India’s oil minister warns of water intensity of sugarcane-based ethanol

In India, counter to what the transportation minister has been pushing—that the sugar industry should focus on ethanol rather than sugar production—the Hindu Business Line newspaper reports that the oil minister says sugar producers should look to diversify their ethanol feedstocks due to sugarcane’s water intensity. He said that waste-based feedstocks were preferred to sugarcane as he doesn’t want a food vs fuel fight to break out due to water consumption. He said ethanol production from sugarcane was basically exporting water.