Roxol getting out of ethanol business

Philippine-listed holding firm Roxas Holdings, Inc. is dropping bioethanol production in favor of potable or industrial alcohol due to expected losses. The sugar producer wants to secure Php2 billion to Php2.5 billion (US$45.56 million-US$56.95 million) from a strategic investor in 2011 to bankroll expansion projects, officials said. “Our plan now is to [shift] to potable [alcohol] because of the lack of tariff [protection] from imported ethanol,” Ramon A. Picornell, Jr., president and chief executive of Roxas Holdings, said in a briefing. (November 18, 2010)