September 8, 2008

Philippines mulls importing 274m liters of ethanol
The Philippine government is likely to import an estimated 274 million liters of ethanol for 2009 in order to comply with the five percent ethanol blend with gasoline as mandated by the Biofuels Act, reported local daily Manila Bulletin.

The estimated import volume is amid expected ethanol production from two local plants.

San Carlos Bioenergy is expected to start commercial production by November this year from its plant in Negros Occidental with a 30 million liters per year capacity.

Leyte Agri Corp already started in July producing ethanol from molasses feedstock.

It will have a yearly capacity of nine million liters per year.

Rafael L Coscolluela, administrator of the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA), said the country may have to cope with.

"Of course, demand for sugarcane will increase because we have to meet the need for both sugar and ethanol.

Two years down the road, we’re looking at how to (adequately) produce what we need," he said.