Sugar growers: Philippines can’t make enough ethanol to meet mandate

Sugar industry officials say that The Philippines are too far behind on ethanol plant construction to meet the 2009 5% ethanol mandate with domestic production. The mandate requires 268 million liters of ethanol a year, but only one small plant is currently under construction.

Rising oil prices have prompted aggressive action by the Philippine government in establishing an E5 mandate, but projects have struggled to attract investors.

Eartier this year, US-based E-Cane Fuel announced plans to invest $150 million in a 40 Mgy ethanol plant that will come online in 2009.
A B1 biodiesel mandate is already in place; after E5 debuts in 2009, the country will move to an E10 standard in 2011.

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