Fiji is following in Indian footsteps in the ethanol sector and building an ethanol plant at Rakiraki instead of another sugar mill, reports Fiji Times.
Sugar Minister Charan Jeath Singh said that the ethanol plant will generate income for Fiji Sugar Corporation.
This would help FSC to get rid of dependence on the Government for loans and would increase the profit of the company, he said.
“After we visited India and saw how all the sugar mills are making ethanol to earn a profit, we are planning to implement the same at the plant in Rakiraki to produce ethanol,” he said.
“Sugarcane juice and molasses will be used to make ethanol that the company can sell to earn some profit,” said Singh.
We will be setting a separate plant for the mill in Labasa to turn brown sugar into white sugar, he said.
We are exporting local sugar to other countries that are selling white sugar back to Fiji and we can do it in our country itself, said the minister.
“We urge the cane farmers to increase the cane production so that these two mills get sufficient supply of cane,” he said.
