Mexico imports 50% of its alcohol needs from the US

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Luis Ramiro García Chávez acknowledged that there is a shortage of alcohol and antibacterial gel available to the general public, due to the high demand in both Mexico and the United States, so there will be no solution in the short term

The Government of Mexico has  guaranteed alcohol and antibacterial gel  for public health institutions, at a reasonable price, for a period of one and a half months, after it  reached an agreement with three sugar mills in Chiapas and Veracruz  for the purchase of 10 thousand tons of molasses.

Luis Ramiro García Chávez, director general of the National Committee for the Sustainable Development of Sugar Cane (Conadesuca), I am confident that  more raw materials can be obtained at the national level, in case the health emergency is extended.

“In Mexico, about two million tons of molasses are produced per year, so getting another 10 thousand tons of molasses from the mills, thinking about the 22 that continue to operate during the pandemic, we consider it possible, because there is a very good disposition from the sugar industry, despite the fact that they have commitments to sell this molasses for other uses ”, he pointed out.

The head of Conadesuca, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader), explained that the national demand in a normal year is 350 million liters of alcohol, of which 50 percent is imported from the United States in corn alcohol, because only three mills in Mexico have a distillery because it stopped being a business for approximately 15 years when a tax of more than 50 percent was created on production.

He explained that this alcohol from sugar cane or corn is used in the pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics, and intoxicating beverages.

He indicated that in the case of molasses, each ton is enough to produce between 240 and 250 liters of cane alcohol.

ALCOHOL AND GEL FOR HOME

Luis Ramiro García Chávez acknowledged that there is a shortage of alcohol and antibacterial gel available to the general public, due to the high demand in both Mexico and the United States, so there will be no solution in the short term.

“It is scarce mainly in Mexico City because it is where the greatest quantity has been demanded, but we are also entering a stage where alcohol, sold at a price, perhaps 25 pesos per liter, is already double, is also a reality that is It has increased and here comes the speculative part, “he said.

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The director-general of the National Committee for the Sustainable Development of Sugar Cane regretted that some companies, to try to take advantage of the boom in hand hygiene, use methanol, which is the part of the alcohol distillation that is discarded, to manufacture antibacterial gel, which ends up affecting the health of the population.

In this situation, he recommended people to buy in prestigious stores or pharmacies products that are not of dubious origin,  with the brand and information of the company that manufactures them.

“Unfortunately, there is a lot of simulation to take advantage of an excess demand condition for this satirizing gel,” he stressed.

He added that the same happens with the quarantine and the so-called Dry Law, which unscrupulous people sell methanol as ethyl alcohol, which unfortunately has caused the death of people for ingesting these drinks not suitable for human consumption in some states of the country.

AFTER THE PANDEMIC

The head of the Conadesuca said that after the health emergency, it is necessary that the government supports the reactivation of the distilleries in the sugar mills, in order that Mexico can be self-sufficient and sovereign in the production of alcohol, “an input which as we are seeing is vital for the health sector ”.

He said that as a strategy, it is convenient to put the existing infrastructure to work through the reduction of taxes and support, with due care so that alcohol production and consumption are not distorted.

“And not depend on imports or at least depend less on imports of alcohol from abroad, because in a condition like the one we are experiencing, depending on alcohol imports for such a delicate element as health, since it is losing sovereignty “He commented.

Source: excelsior.com.mx

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