Ethanol shortage stalls India’s plan to mandate higher blends

The Indian government’s plan to make E5 mandatory starting October 2007 has, until this year, not been implemented fully due to a shortage of ethanol. As such, it is unable to move to the next phase, which is to make E10 compulsory starting October 2008. Analysts said that about 180 million liters of ethanol are required to blend gasoline with 5% ethanol, more than what local oil companies were able to procure—just 120 million liters as of January 2009. The shortage of ethanol is attributed to the crisis in the sugar industry, which has resulted in the shortage of molasses, a key raw material in producing ethanol. (February 23, 2009)