Indian sugar industry ready to ramp up ethanol capacity.

Amid the closure of some grain-based ethanol plants due to the sudden halt of subsidised rice by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), the sugar industry is optimistic about increasing its share if the government asks for the industry to meet the 20 per cent ethanol blended petrol (EBP) target by 2025.

“Whatever ethanol supply has been received by OMCs so far, 81 per cent has come from sugarcane-based plants, and only 19 per cent has been contributed by grain-based plants,” said Atul Chaturvedi, executive chairman of Shree Renuka Sugars. This shows the vibrancy of the sugarcane-based plants to meet the challenge of EBP, he said.

Out of 5.53 billion litres contracted by oil marketing companies (OMCs) in the current ethanol year (December 2022–October 2023), 3.51 billion litres have been supplied by distilleries until July 9, achieving 11.75 per cent blending. The target for the current year is 12 per cent.

Chaturvedi said there is a need to revisit the original plan of what the contribution of sugarcane- and grain-based plants should be to the overall supply. “Since sugar mills are in a position to scale up, the government should raise their (sugar mills) share of ethanol to 8 billion litres,” he said, adding the industry is in a position to ramp up capacity.

As per the original plan, the government estimates the requirement for ethanol to be 10.16 billion litres to achieve the 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol (EBP) target by 2025. Out of this, 5.5 billion litres are estimated to come from sugarcane-based plants and 4.66 billion litres will be shared by grain-based plants, he said.

HBL