Govt allows sugar mills to use cane juice for ethanol production from Nov

India will allow sugar mills to use cane juice or syrup to produce ethanol in the new marketing year starting Nov. 1, the government said in a notification on Thursday.

The world's second-biggest sugar producer imposed restrictions on diverting sugar for ethanol production in December 2023 to increase sugar output after cane crop was hit by below-average monsoon rains.

In the new season, distilleries can also use B-heavy molasses, a byproduct with higher sucrose levels, for ethanol production, the government said in the notification.

Around 750,000 metric tons of B-heavy molasses are lying in stock with mills after the government restricted ethanol production from this feedstock last year, said Prakash Naiknavare, managing director of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories Ltd.

"Now that the restriction is lifted, they can use these stocks," Naiknavare said.

Indian sugar mills such as E.I.D.-Parry, Balrampur Chini Mills, Shree Renuka, Bajaj Hindusthan, and Dwarikesh Sugar have increased their ethanol production capacity in the last few years.

The south Asian country also allowed distilleries to purchase up to 2.3 million metric tons of rice from the state-run Food Corporation of India (FCI) for ethanol production, the government said in a separate notification.

"The permission to utilise FCI rice as a feedstock will enhance ethanol production from dual-feed distilleries," said Vijay Nirani, managing director of TruAlt Bioenergy Ltd.

The two policy changes will not only help increase ethanol blending in gasoline but also help mills and distilleries make timely cane payments to millions of farmers, Nirani said.

India aims to increase ethanol production to blend 20 per cent ethanol into gasoline by 2025-26, from around 13 per cent now.