RP Might Import 150M Liters of Ethanol for 2010

Feature

Written by Sabrina Deparine

Tuesday, 26 January 2010 17:16

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With the mandate to produce petroleum products with 5% ethanol blend, the National Biofuels Board (NBB) estimates that the Philippines would require 219 million liters of ethanol for 2010. However, local producers cannot supply all of these yet so the Philippine government has no other choice but to import ethanol from other countries like Brazil.

For 2010, the country may have to import as much as 150 million liters of ethanol, mostly from Brazil. This is in spite of projections that local production capacity may double up to 78 million liters as compared to last year. This is still quite far from the 219-million liter ethanol demand.

Image Source: http://filer.livinginperu.com/news/img/ethanol.jpg

Image Source: http://filer.livinginperu.com/news/img/ethanol.jpg

However, local producers do not have to worry about the competition with imported ethanol. According to Rafael Coscolluela, NBB Vice Chairperson, the estimated 150 million liters of ethanol to be imported is not yet final. This may change depending on local production and availability. NBB actually advises oil companies on the volume of ethanol that they can import to ensure that all domestic output is consumed. The exact volume of ethanol to be imported will be finalized by next week.

For 2009, NBB allowed oil companies to import 184 million liters of ethanol to address the demand of 208 million liters. Although the estimated volume of imported ethanol is lower this year than last year, Coscolluela is still apprehensive about the estimates because local ethanol producers are having difficulties in sourcing out sugarcane for feedstock due to the rising prices of sugar.

Most of us are probably aware that some sectors or retailers are pinpointing to the biofuels industry as the main culprit in the shortage of supply in sugar in the country, citing that sugarcanes are now being used as feedstock instead of processing it to sugar products. However, this report goes to show that the biofuel industry does not have anything to do with the shortage in sugar supply. In fact, local producers are also having a hard time getting enough sugarcane supply. Also, the shortage in sugar supply is not doing the biofuel industry any good as it prompts the government to import more volumes of ethanol from other countries which, in turn, contributes to higher pump prices for ethanol-blended gasoline.