Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have floated a fresh expression of interest ( EOI) with a demand for 21 crore litres of ethanol from Maharashtra. However, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation ( MSCSFF) says that it will be difficult for distilleries in the state to supply the required ethanol since the cane crushing season comes to an end this month and subsequently the distilleries attached to the sugar mills also shut down operations.
Mills in Maharashtra have so far supplied around 25 crore litres of ethanol to OMCs. Already 163 factories have completed crushing operations in the state and another 14-odd mills will complete crushing by the month-end.
Moreover, as per norms of the Maharashtra State Pollution Control Board, mills cannot remain operational from June 10 to September 10 and have to maintain zero effluent discharge. So, it may be difficult for mills to supply ethanol during this period.
Senior officials of the federation said that ethanol plants have to remain shut due to monsoon and therefore there will be no production of ethanol in this period. Normally after the purchase order is made, mills are expected to supply around 90% of the order in the first month itself, Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, chairman of the federation said.
This time, however, mills have been advised by the federation to fill in the tenders as per their capacity. For the 2014-15 season, OMCs have come out with tenders for ethanol in July 2014, January 2015 and March 2015. OMCs have sought around 155.95 crore litres of ethanol from sugar mills in 2014-15. Of which manufacturers made an offer of 126.47 crore litres and 79.24 crore litres were finalised. During this period as per the quota of 10%, Maharashtra was allotted 32.08 crore litres of ethanol and manufacturers made an offer of 25.62 crore litres of which 20.19 crore litres were finalised.
Of the 11 depots in the state, around 10 depots have completed 100% of their given quota. However, the depot at Sewri-Wadala in Mumbai levies an octroi of 7% as a result of which ethanol manufacturers have to shell out R3 per litre, the chairman pointed out. He urged the chief minister to scrap the octroi.
It may be mentioned here that OMCs have floated tenders for 32 crore litres from Maharashtra. Last year, the state had supplied 7.5 crore litres of ethanol to OMCs. Maharashtra has 68 ethanol manufacturing plants with a total production capacity of 72 crore litres. However, mainly due to lack of demand, this capacity has remained unutilised.
It is enough to meet the requirement of Maharashtra and neighbouring states if 5% to 10% doping of petrol with ethanol is allowed. Interestingly, falling sugar prices had prompted the state’s mills to seek permission for production of more ethanol.
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