Ethanol Production
Govt raises rice allocation for ethanol production to 5.2 mln tn for 2024-25
This story was originally published at 15:43 IST on 8 May 2025
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By Afra Abubacker
NEW DELHI – The Centre has allocated an additional 2.8 million tonnes of rice as feedstock for making ethanol, taking the total for 2024-25 to 5.2 million tonnes. Distilleries can now lift rice from government godowns till the end of the ethanol supply year on Oct. 31, an official at The Food Corp. of India said. Previously, the deadline was Jun. 30.
The revised allocation has come amid piling rice stocks at the central pool. As of Apr. 1, FCI had 38.2 million tonnes of rice, up 26.5% on year and far above the buffer norm of about 13.6 million tonnes – operational stock of 11.58 million tonnes and a strategic reserve of 2.00 million tonnes.
To clear stocks, the government has kept the reserve price of rice for ethanol production unchanged at a subsidised rate of INR 2,250 per 100 kg. This price is way below the economic cost of INR 3,975 per 100 kg. However, offtake remains poor. So far, distillers have lifted about 950,000 tonnes of rice, the official said. This is just 18.3% of the entire allocation.
Distillers supply ethanol to oil marketing companies for their blending requirements. During Nov-Mar, oil companies achieved 18.4% blending with petrol. Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., on behalf of state oil companies, has given distillers allotment letters for 2.65 million tonnes of rice so far, the official said.
In a bid to offload its swelling stocks, FCI has started selling rice twice a week--Wednesday and Thursday--since January under the open market sales scheme. However, the offtake remains poor amid availability of the new paddy crop across the country. End
Edited by Nishant Maher
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