Zimbabwe's ethanol mandate has been raised to 10% from 5% by volume due a rise in supply, the government-owned Zimbabwe Mail reported Sunday, citing an official decree.
Platts Analytics' agricultural unit Kingsman puts Zimbabwean ethanol production and consumption at 80 million liters a year, meaning all its demand is met domestically.
The move comes after the mandate was cut to 5% from 15% in March following a shortage of anhydrous ethanol.
This shortage, at the start of the year, was partly due to high rainfall and a shortage of sugarcane in the low veld, the grasslands stretching across much of Southern Africa.
Ethanol production has resumed in earnest after the December-April off-crop period, which, the paper said led to "a moratorium on the production of ethanol," and contributed to low stocks.
Sugar milling has resumed and ethanol supplies have begun to increase as a result, the Mail said.
