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Informist, Wednesday, Jun. 17, 2026

 

By Afra Abubacker

 

NEW DELHI – Distilleries have supplied 6.15 billion litres ethanol to oil marketing companies during Nov-May, meeting nearly 59% of the 10.5 billion litres ordered for the 2025-26 ethanol supply year ending October, industry data showed. Most ethanol blended into petrol continues to be produced from grain-based feedstocks, followed by sugarcane feedstocks. 

 

As of May end, 4.06 billion litres or 66% of ethanol supplied to oil companies was produced from grain-based feedstocks, while 2.10 billion litres or 34% was sourced from sugarcane-based feedstocks. However, sugarcane-based ethanol continued to record a higher fulfillment rate. Distilleries supplied 2.1 billion litres or 73% of the 2.9 billion litres ordered from sugarcane-based feedstocks. In comparison, grain-based ethanol supplied was only 53.4% or 4.06 billion litres against the order of 7.6 billion litres. 

 

According to industry participants, sugar-based ethanol supplies are typically stronger in the first half of the ethanol supply year, as it coincides with the sugarcane crushing season October. During this period, sugarcane-based distilleries have ample availability of sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses to produce ethanol.

 

Sugar mills are estimated to have diverted 2.57 million tonnes of sugar equivalent for ethanol production till May 31, the data showed. For the full year, industry bodies estimate sugar diversion for ethanol production at 3.1 million tonnes. Meanwhile, the diversion of Food Corp. of India's surplus rice for ethanol production remains moderate.

 

"About 3.2 million tonnes of FCI rice may have been utilised for ethanol production till May," said G.K. Sood, an agricultural expert and chairman of MEIR Commodities. Distilleries may have lifted more FCI rice, but only 3.2 million tonnes was likely to have been used for ethanol production, Sood added. According to the government data, about 4.3 million tonnes of FCI rice were lifted by ethanol manufacturers by the end of April. 

 

The government had directed distilleries to lift 5.2 million tonnes of FCI rice by Jun. 30 for producing 2.3 billion litres of ethanol. As of May 31, about 1.46 billion litres of ethanol produced from FCI rice were supplied to oil companies. 

 

The government is likely to allocate an additional 2.0 million tonnes of FCI rice, over and above the 5.2 million tonnes earmarked till Jun. 30. Oil marketing companies are also expected to place additional supply orders for FCI rice-based ethanol in the next tender for ethanol procurement, Sood said. 

 

Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd., on behalf of other state-owned oil companies, has so far floated only one tender to procure 10.5 billion litres of ethanol. Industry officials said additional tenders are expected only after the ongoing legal dispute between a Karnataka-based distillery and oil marketing companies is resolved. VINP Distilleries and Sugars Pvt. Ltd., a dedicated ethanol plant, has petitioned in the Karnataka High Court that oil marketing companies have violated terms under the long-term offtake agreement.

 

 

Following is the feedstock-wise ethanol supply by distilleries as of May. 31 in the ethanol supply year 2025-26 (Nov-Oct), against supply orders issued by oil marketing companies, in million litres: 

 

Feedstock	Orders (2025-26)	Supply (till May 31)	Supply (%)
Cane Juice	1,658.5	1,381.4	83.3
B-Heavy	1,104.9	626.9	56.7
C-Heavy	121.7	91.7	75.4
Total - Sugarcane based	2,885.1	2,100	72.8
Damaged Foodgrains	476	338	71
Surplus FCI Rice	2,332.5	1,464	62.8
Maize	4,789	2,254	47.1
Total - Grains based	7,597.5	4,056	53.4
Grand Total	10,482.6	6,156	58.7

 

End    

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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