FCI Plans Segregation of Broken Rice for Ethanol Use

28-Jul-2025 01:56 PM

New Delhi. The central government has planned to separate broken goods from Food Corporation of India's 50 lakh tonnes of rice stock so that the quality of the remaining rice can be improved and its market value can also increase. Its pilot project has been successful in four states of the region,

encouraged by which the government now wants to separate broken rice in the huge stock and allocate it for ethanol production.

High quality rice with 10 percent brokenness will be auctioned through OMSS, while 100 percent broken rice will be supplied directly to ethanol distilleries at a slightly lower price.

In the year 2024, the Food Corporation had directed selected rice mills of Punjab, Haryana, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to separate 15 percent broken grains from 10 thousand tonnes of rice processed under the Custom Mill Rice (CMR) scheme.

A stock of 10-10 thousand tonnes of rice was fixed for each state from which the broken grains were to be separated.

This scheme was successful. Its objective is to separate broken grains from the rice stock purchased for the central pool. Usually it contains 25 percent broken grains.

If 15 percent is removed, only 10 percent will remain. If rice with 10 percent broken grains is brought under the open market sale scheme, then buyers' interest in purchasing it may increase and its price may also remain somewhat high.

It is worth mentioning that the government has allocated a total stock of 52 lakh tonnes of rice for grain-based distilleries ethanol production.

The government wants to ensure that this total allocated stock of rice is 100 percent broken. Under the new model, if the millers separate 15 percent broken grains, then only 10 percent broken rice will remain in the remaining stock.