Western Australian sugar growers turn to ethanol as world sugar glut looms

In Australia, Ord River sugar growers are pressing the Western Australia government to support the Ord Stage 2 expansion project, which will provide more land for sugar and give the growers enough economy of scale to produce ethanol from sugar. The sugar industry is threatened with shut down after the closure of a local Kununurra-based in the next year due to depressed global sugar prices.  The sugar growers pointed to a 10 million tonne glut of sugar predicted for next year as evidence that only a switch to ethanol production could save their industry.

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