India To Double Ethanol Content Of Gasoline To 10% By October 2008 - Houston Chronicle

[hatrack]

NEW DELHI — India will double the requirement for ethanol-blend gasoline and lift a ban on direct production of the biofuel from sugarcane _ measures intended to reduce the country's sugar stocks and address rising fuel demand.

The government will soon issue orders requiring oil companies to double the ethanol content in gasoline sold in the country, to 10 percent, by October next year, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said Wednesday.

Pawar told reporters the government also wants farmers and sugar mills to directly produce ethanol from sugar cane juice. Currently, Indian laws allow ethanol to be produced only from the molasses left after the juice is extracted for making sugar.

The news lifted stocks of sugar companies by nearly 20 percent Wednesday.

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http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5147568.html