Maharashtra sugar factories produce over 65 cr litres ethanol so far this year, much above target: NFCSF

Private and co-usable sugar processing plants just as independent refinery units in Maharashtra have created and provided 65.06 crore liters of ethanol so far this year, as against the objective of 59.61 crore liters set till October, the National Federation of Co-employable Sugar Factories (NFCSF) said on Thursday.

Talking with PTI, NFCSF President Jayprakash Dandegavkar stated the acquisition expenses of ethanol need to additionally move up with the gasoline expenses withinside the us of a with the aid of using maintaining the bottom fee intact. "In Maharashtra, the personal and co-operative sugar factories and standalone distillery devices had been given the goal of creating and offering 59.sixty one crore litres of ethanol until October 2021.

"The state has overachieved the target and has supplied65.06 crore litres of ethanol till date. The target of ethanol product for the state can go up by 30 per cent,"he said. 

Sugarcane is being used to make ethanol in the country and it'll prove helpful to some extent to those manufactories that are presently in fiscal crunch, he added. 

"As of today, ethanol prices are guaranteed. However, if private companies enter the Indian market in the future, they may not necessarily buy ethanol from sugar factories. "The government should force these private companies to purchase ethanol from domestic rather than foreign sugar factories," he said. Dandegavkar said that another problem with ethanol production is its fixed purchase price. "The price of ethanol should be linked to the price of domestic fuel. We have a policy that if the purchase price is fixed, it will not change for at least four to five years. "However, prices should be linked to market conditions. As fuel prices rise, sugar mills should also benefit from ethanol prices," he said.