As per local media, Indian state fuel retailers have raised the purchase price of maize-based ethanol by 5.79 rupees per litre to 71.86 rupees ($0.8635) per litre in order to encourage its production for blending with petrol. India is promoting maize as a sugar substitute in order to increase ethanol production and ensure a steady supply of the sweetener on the market.
India directed sugar mills in December not to use cane juice to produce ethanol because the country's sugar production is expected to fall in the 2023/24 marketing year, which began in October. State fuel retailers raised the procurement price for ethanol made from C-heavy molasses, a cane by-product with little sugar content, by 8.87 Indian rupees per litre last week.
Ethanol accounts for approximately 10.2% of petrol sold in India, with the government aiming to increase blending to 20% by 2025. The Indian Sugar Mills Association, a producers' organisation, predicted last month that India's sugar production would fall to 32.5 million metric tonnes in the 2023/24 marketing year, down from 33.7 million tonnes previously.
India is estimated to have produced 36.6 million tonnes of sugar in the previous marketing year.
