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In a U-turn, the government on Friday reversed its decision to ban the use of sugarcane juice for making ethanol as it allowed utilisation of the juice as well as B-heavy molasses to produce the green fuel but capped the diversion of sugar at 17 lakh tonnes. For now, the capping will be in place for the 2023-24 supply year that ends in October next year.
The latest decision comes a week after the government prohibited the use of sugarcane juice and sugar syrup for making ethanol, amid the industry seeking reversal of the decision.
“The flexibility has been given to sugar mills for using both sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses within an overall cap of 17 lakh tonnes of diversion of sugar for making ethanol in the ongoing 2023-24 supply year (November-October period),” Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra told PTI.
A committee of ministers took the decision on Friday and the notification in this regard will be issued soon. “We are working on the modalities to decide on the proportion of cane juice and B-heavy molasses to be used for making ethanol,” Chopra said.
Already some quantity of ethanol has been produced using cane juice in the current supply year, he added. The latest move comes against the backdrop of representation from the sugar industry to review the December 7 order that banned use of cane juice and sugar syrup with immediate effect.
While issuing the order, the government had allowed supply of ethanol from B-heavy molasses through existing offers received by Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).
Another food ministry official said about 6 lakh tonnes of sugar have already been diverted to make ethanol using cane juice before the government issued the order on December 7.
The government has estimated sugar production to decline to 32.3-33 million tonne in the 2023-24 season (October-September) as against 37.3 million tonnes in the previous season.
“We were anticipating cane production to be low but didn’t anticipate it to go down further. The recent rain has brought the recovery per cent further down. The drought in Maharashtra and Karnataka is worrying,” Chopra had said earlier.
Earlier in the day, Chopra exuded confidence that the target of 15 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol will be achieved in the 2023-24 supply year. In 2022-23 supply year, the government achieved 12 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol.
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