South Indian sugar growers stuggle to afford ethanol production capacity

In India, the South Indian Sugar Mills Association said that of 180 sugar mills who belonged to the association, only 18-20 have the capability at this time to produce ethanol.

The association’s chief told the Hindu Business Line that  “The cooperative sector is beset with financial crunch to upgrade their facilities in order to produce ethanol.”

The industry is struggling to establish an ethanol capacity to reduce India’s massive 12 million ton sugar excess capacity of sugar, and meet the proposed national E10 mandate which goes into effect in October 2008.

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