India emerges as largest producer of sugar in world
- Posted By
10Pointer
- Categories
World Affairs
- Published
7th Oct, 2022
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Context
India emerged as the world’s largest producer and consumer of sugar and world’s 2nd largest exporter of sugar.
Key-Points
- During this season all records of sugarcane production, sugar production, sugar export, cane dues paid and ethanol production were made.
- In 2020-21, India made records with the highest exports of about 109.8 LMT with no financial assistance.
- In Sugar Season (Oct-Sep) 2021-22, a record of more than 5000 Lakh Metric Tons (LMT) sugarcane was produced in the country.
- Out of this, 35 LMT sugar was diverted to ethanol production and 359 LMT sugar was produced by sugar mills.
- Ethanol production capacity of molasses/sugar-based distilleries has increased to 605 crore litres per annum and the progress is still continuing to meet targets of 20% blending by 2025 under Ethanol Blending with Petrol (EBP) Programme.
About Ethanol Blending with Petrol (EBP) Programme
- The EBP programme was launched by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in 2003, to promote the use of alternative and environment friendly fuels.
- The Government has a 10% blending target for mixing ethanol with petrol by 2022 & 20% blending target by 2030.
- However, considering the encouraging performance, due to various interventions made by the Government since 2014, the target of 20% ethanol blending was advanced from 2030 to 2025-26.
About Ethanol
- Ethanol is an agro-based product, produced from sugarcane, maize, wheat, etc which are having high starch content.
- In India, ethanol is mainly produced from sugarcane molasses by fermentation process
- Ethanol can be mixed with gasoline to form different blends.
- As the ethanol molecule contains oxygen, it allows the engine to more completely combust the fuel, resulting in fewer emissions and thereby reducing the occurrence of environmental pollution.
- Since ethanol is produced from plants that harness the power of the sun, ethanol is also considered as renewable fuel.
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