Sugar halted for ethanol production in 2026-27

On 16 October, oil marketing companies including Bharat Petroleum excluded sugar-based ethanol from a tender it issued on behalf of the state-run oil marketing companies. The tender seeks around 1,100 crore litres (11 billion litres) of ethanol.

The company has stated that “no offers have been sought” for ethanol made from sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup or B-heavy molasses. C-heavy molasses, which contain only residual sugar content if any, are permitted.

The government’s measures appear to be linked to El Nino conditions and drought declared in some sugar producing states, with sugarcane being a water-intensive crop.

The Ministry of Commerce had on 19 October extended the duty free import (of 10 lakh metric tonnes) of raw sugar timeline by two months to December 2026.