Reversing the order issued a week ago, the government has given permission to sugar mills to use both sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses to make ethanol. This order will be applicable for the supply year 2023-24. However, the maximum limit of sugar for this has been fixed at 17 lakh tonnes.
On behalf of the sugar industry, there was a demand from the government to withdraw the old decision. After this, a committee of cabinet ministers met on Friday and decided to reverse the old order.
The central government issued an order on December 7, banning the use of sugarcane juice and sugar syrup in ethanol production with immediate effect. However, supply of ethanol for existing proposals received from Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) was allowed.
What did the Food Secretary say?
Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra said sugar mills were given the option to use both sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses within the total limit of 17 lakh tonnes of sugar for ethanol production in the ongoing supply year (November 2023-October 2024).
According to the Food Ministry, before the last order was issued on December 7, about 6 lakh tonnes of ethanol had been made from sugarcane juice. The government estimates that the country’s sugar production may decline to 33 million tonnes in the crushing season of 2023-24. In the previous crushing season it was more than 3.7 crore tonnes.
The government had taken the previous decision in view of the forecast of decline in sugar production due to the fear of reduced yield. Sanjeev Chopra said, ‘That said, we are working on ways to decide on the ratio of sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses used in making ethanol.’
