Now the production of ethanol is increasing from grains instead of sugar

28-Jun-2024 01:28 PM

Mumbai. Now the production of ethanol in the country is gradually shifting from sugarcane (sugar) to grains like maize and rice. Earlier the share of ethanol produced from food grains was 37.4 percent, which is expected to increase to 51 percent in the current year.

In fact, during the current marketing season starting from November 2023 and continuing till October 2024, the government has allowed the use of sugarcane equivalent to only 17 lakh tonnes of sugar in ethanol production,

which is half of the use made in the 2022-23 season. This time the focus of the government was to ensure maximum production of sugar for food purposes so that there is no unexpected increase in its prices during the election year.

After rice and wheat, maize is the highest produced in the food grain category in India. Due to the rapid increase in its use in ethanol production, the importance of this coarse grain has increased significantly and its demand and consumption is continuously increasing rapidly.

The government has set a target of 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol and it is difficult to achieve this target with ethanol produced only from sugarcane (sugar). As a result, efforts are being made to increase its production from maize.

The previous day, the government had approved the import of 5 lakh tonnes of maize under the Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) system.

Emphasis is also being laid on increasing the production of maize in the domestic sector. Its minimum support price (MSP) has been increased to Rs 2225 per quintal for the 2024-25 season.

In the current marketing season, till June 9, 2024, a total of 357.12 crore liters of ethanol was produced in the country, out of which 181.38 crore liters was produced from grains.