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Ethanol production: The government on Friday allowed sugar mills to use both sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses to make ethanol in the supply year 2023-24. But for this the maximum limit of sugar has been fixed at 17 lakh tonnes. The decision comes a week after the government banned the use of sugarcane juice and sugar molasses to make ethanol. In fact, the industry was demanding a reversal of this decision.
What did the government say?
Union Food Secretary Sanjiv Chopra said- Sugar mills have been given an option to use both sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses within a total limit of 17 lakh tonnes of sugar for ethanol production in the supply year 2023-24 (November-October). He said that the Committee of Ministers took this decision during its meeting on Friday. The decision was taken by the Committee of Ministers after considering the demands of industries to withdraw the ban imposed last week. Chopra said – We are working on a modality to decide on the ratio of sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses used in making ethanol. He said some ethanol has already been produced from sugarcane juice in the current supply year.
On December 7, the government banned the use of sugarcane juice and sugar syrup in ethanol production with immediate effect. However, permission was given to supply ethanol for current proposals received from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). Another food ministry official said that before the earlier order was issued, about six lakh tonnes of ethanol was produced from sugarcane juice.
Sugar production may decrease: The government estimates that the country’s sugar production will fall to 32-33 million tonnes in the sugar season 2023-24, compared to over 37 million tonnes in the last crushing season. The reason behind the forecast decline in sugar production is likely to be a decline in sugarcane yield. In view of this, the government last week stopped the use of sugarcane juice and molasses in ethanol production.