India eyes sweet sorghum as alternative feedstock to boost ethanol production

The Indian government may push for sweet sorghum as an alternative to sugarcane to diversify ethanol feedstocks, amid ongoing volatility in sugarcane availability, an official from the Indian Institute of Millets Research told S&P Global Commodity Insights on Nov. 11.

According to the official, the government prefers sweet sorghum as an additional feedstock for biofuel, given the ongoing challenges with the availability and viability of sugarcane, rice and corn in recent years.

"A meeting was held in August to review the sweet sorghum crop and explore possibilities in India to increase ethanol production. The government has asked the IIMR to produce more better-yielding varieties of sweet sorghum," the official said.

The juice content of the sweet sorghum variety released in 2024 has increased to 15,000-16,000 liters/hectare from 12,000-14,000 liters/ha from the variety released in 1992, according to a source at IIMR.

Various studies have shown that ethanol recovery from sweet sorghum ranges from 10 liters to 55 liters per metric ton of stalks crushed, while 1 mt of sugarcane produces around 70 liters of the biofuel, officials at IIMR said.

Industry experts, however, said the viability of using sweet sorghum will not be fully assessed unless a price is set for ethanol produced from the crop.

Efforts to raise ethanol output

Over the past several years, ethanol producers have highlighted concerns about the availability of sugarcane and rice.

In 2023, the Indian government limited the diversion of rice and sugarcane to ethanol production to keep retail prices lower amid concerns over reduced production and rising retail prices. However, in August 2024, the government lifted these restrictions to boost ethanol production in the country.

To meet the ethanol requirement, the government also rolled out plans in February under which two agencies -- the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India and the National Cooperative Consumers' Federation of India -- will sign agreements with ethanol distillers to supply corn at the support price, aiming to reduce dependency on sugar.

However, the move resulted in a surge in local corn prices, leaving poultry farmers struggling to manage increased feed costs.

"The government is looking to expand the stock pool for ethanol feedstocks to reduce dependency on sugarcane as the trade is very volatile," an official with the agriculture ministry said.

The government said India requires approximately 13.5 billion liters of ethanol to meet the 20% blending target by 2025. Indian distilleries produce around 380-390 liters of ethanol per metric ton of corn and 450-460 liters for each metric ton of rice.

"Since the availability of broken rice is not adequate, most of the distillers prefer maize. However, it puts pressure on other industrial users and poultry or cattle feed makers to source the grain cheaper," a trade participant said.

Meanwhile, some in the trade circle have suggested that as corn prices rise and India is likely to import corn to meet domestic demand, sourcing ethanol from the crop could become economically unviable.