Cautious bidding efforts by ethanol (Sugar) manufacturers will definitely bring rewards to the Indian sugar industry.

Dilemma in future prices of alcohol in the coming year results in under bidding the quantity of ethanol for fuel blending in India.Out of the total 1016616 KL, the sugar, ethanol manufacturers bided nearly 62% of the total quantity for ethanol to be blended in fuel in India. This clearly indicates a smart move by the sugar factories since they are unwilling to keep all eggs in one basket. This move will create a win-win situation for everybody, including the chemical and fertilizer industry who need industrial alcohol and were not in favor of the fuel blended ethanol. What the sugar- ethanol factories have achieved is to gain maximum out of the by-product. Last year we exported molasses around six lac tons and this balance move by sugar companies will also keep the molasses export option open.

Looking at last year’s approximate alcohol consumption figures-
100 Crore liters was for potable alcohol.
70 Crore liters was for industrial alcohol.
71 Crore liters for ethanol, fuel blending which still in supply process and 65 to 70% will be achieved.

This demand for alcohol is good for ethanol plant manufacturers, since we believe production of ethanol is a value addition to the sugar industry and hence more profitable than producing sugar and even co-generation considering the capital cost of the project.

On the other hand there is a good scope to produce alcohol from sweet sorghum, tropical beet and biomass. Technology companies would play a vital role here. A joint effort by Oil Marketing Companies, Ethanol Manufacturing Associations, the Ministry of Oil and Petroleum and all the associations of sugar factories should join hands to set a roadmap to achieve the E20 till 2017 objective set by the government. Even investors should see a promising ROI in the alcohol projects.

The state governments role specifically in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu have to look into the micro-level of the product as they have to believe that only potable alcohol should not be the target. In fact saving also is earning and to make better tomorrow and to keep the environment clean and make fresh air to breath in these respective states by burning a more clean fuel will have an indirect benefit to the people. So “Jago” state governments. The states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have taken this seriously but would need more efforts.

To conclude the scenario to produce ethanol has kept wide doors open for the upcoming industries.

(For facts and figures contact Business Brains.)
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