Asia's largest sugar producer, Mitr Phol Group of Thailand, expects to increase its annual ethanol production to 400 million litres as it expands over the next five years.

Currently, the company produces 380 million litres of ethanol per year.

Mitr Phol has earmarked THB 50.4 billion (USD 1.4bn/EUR 1.26bn) for its 2016-2020 expansion plan. It aims to take advantage of improving sugar prices and add value to sugar byproducts, The Bangkok Post reported.

More than 50% of the planned investment will be spent on boosting crushing capacity, including the construction of four sugar mills. As the supply of molasses, the byproduct of sugar production used as an ethanol feedstock, is expected to increase, ethanol production is also to grow.

The company also plans to generate revenue from ethanol byproducts that can be used as animal feed. It has for the first time tried this in 2016, selling to feedstuff producers in Thailand, according to the article.

Provided by SeeNews exclusively for Essentica.