Sugar mills eye molasses export, higher ethanol for blending in glut season

Factories seek to improve cash flows; Maharashtra allows export of molasses

Against the backdrop of a bumper sugarcane harvest and an estimated sugar output of 30.5 million tonnes (mt) in the next crushing season, mills are looking to tap export of molasses to improve cash flow and provide additional stability to the sugar sector amid demand-supply volatility.

Molasses is a cane by-product generated during sugar production. Its recovery is pegged at 4.75 per cent of cane crushed. It is processed to make ethyl alcohol and methyl alcohol. 

While ethyl alcohol is unfit for human consumption, methyl alcohol is used for making liquor by distilleries, besides other pharmaceutical uses. Molasses is also