The Wutz Up in the Philippines!

The Philippines may import around 150 million liters of ethanol this year, mostly from Brazil, as domestic output remains short of demand, a senior government official said Wednesday.

Local production capacity of the biofuel is projected to double to 78 million liters this year from 2009, still far short of the forecast demand of 219 million liters.

“We may end up importing around 150 million liters this year, give or take several tens of millions, depending on local production and availability,” Rafael Coscolluela, vice chairman of the National Biofuels Board told Reuters in a phone interview.

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n “ideal ethanol” feedstock from “cellulosic ethanol” is seen as a second generation, “way of the future” feedstock that can be commercialized by the Philippines in the next five to 10 years.

A memorandum of agreement (MoA) between the Philippine Council for Advanced Science and Technology Research and Development (PCASTRD) and the the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) will be signed to carry out a P10 million, five-year program toward the commercial availability of cellulosic ethanol.

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PETRON Corp. will secure its remaining ethanol requirements from another local producer.

Jose Campos, Petron vice president for marketing, said San Carlos BioEnergy Inc. can meet his company’s ethanol supply requirements in line with the mandated blending of the alternative fuel with gasoline.

“I cannot say exactly when the deliveries from San Carlos will come in, but it will be here early enough to enable us to meet our requirements by February,” he said.

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