Australian Sugar Milling Council urges governments to urgently develop National Biofuels Feedstock Strategy

In India, ChinaMindi reported that the Australian Sugar Milling Council (ASMC) is calling on governments to urgently develop a National Biofuels Feedstock Strategy.

“The ASMC has been calling for this feedstock strategy since early 2024. Sugar manufacturers can be central to Australia’s biofuels future through the production of bioethanol and other biofuels feedstocks. However, we need a good healthy dose of reality in the debate – the current proposed alcohol-to-fuel SAF plants will not use a single scrap of Australian feedstock, they will rely on imported bioethanol from places like Brazil,” said Ash Salardini, CEO of the ASMC.

The sugar manufacturing sector can process sugarcane into products such as bioethanol that will be the feedstock for many of the SAF plants being proposed in Australia. Additionally, the by-product of this process, bagasse, could also be converted into biofuels providing up to 8% of the domestic aviation fuel market, according to the report.

The ASMC has called for the establishment of a National Biofuels Feedstock Strategy with a steering group of potential leading feedstock providers providing guidance on feedstock availability and required next steps to establish a domestic supply chain, the report added.

“We look forward to the Federal and Queensland Governments really stepping up around a feedstock strategy, as we know they also want to see the economic uplift from a truly Australian biofuels industry.”

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