The Indonesian Biofuel Producers Association (Aprobi) has requested clarity on government regulations regarding the use of bioethanol domestically, suggesting that the plan to build 500 bioethanol factories requires clear regulations.

Secretary General of Aprobi, Ernest Gunawan, said that bioethanol producers currently need clarity regarding the target for bioethanol blends in gasoline as it can clarify investment opportunities in the bioethanol industry, such as biodiesel regulations in investing in Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) factories.

"We hope that the regulations for the implementation of bioethanol will be made clear by the government so that bioethanol producers are comfortable in doing business and have clarity and legal certainty," Ernest said as quoted by Katadata.co.id, on Wednesday, April 23, 2025.

So far, State energy company PT Pertamina has sold bioethanol products under the Pertamax Green 95 brand with a mixture of 5 percent. Meanwhile, Pertamina has increased the number of gas stations selling Pertamax Green 95 from 15 locations in 2023 to 65 locations since April 2024.

This is in line with the Regulation of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) No. 12/2015 which regulates the bioethanol mixture in biogasoline to reach 20 percent this year. This figure has tripled from the final position in 2024 of 5 percent.

Ernest assessed that increasing the bioethanol mixture in gasoline must be done slowly. Therefore, he believes that the bioethanol mixture cannot reach the biodiesel mixture percentage of 40 percent this year.

"The bioethanol mixture cannot be set high immediately, but must go through trials and slowly increase the percentage of the mixture. However, we leave the percentage of the mixture until 2029 to the government because it cannot be determined arbitrarily," he said.

Previously, Coordinating Minister for Food Affairs, Zulkifli Hasan, said the government would work with the private sector to build at least 500 cassava processing factories in the country’s all regencies/cities.

According to Zulkifli, the development of this processing industry is adjusted to the potential and suitability of each region in developing cassava. Currently, there are 13 bioethanol producers spread across 11 regions in Indonesia.

"We will work with the private sector and the government to build 500 factories or industries in each district to develop ethanol from cassava," Zulkifli said on Sunday, April 20, 2025.

Director General of New, Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation (EBTKE) at the ESDM, Eniya Listiani Dewi, said that Indonesia's 13 producers produce bioethanol with a production capacity of 365 thousand kiloliters (kl) per year.

Eniya cited that of the 13 producers, only 4 producers have a system for increasing the percentage of ethanol to be used as vehicle fuel or fuel grade in their production.

Meanwhile, nine other producers are only able to be in a position to provide ethanol for food and medicine raw materials. As is known, to make basic raw materials such as molasses or sugar cane drops as a mixture of vehicle fuel, certain technology is needed with a level of purification of basic materials up to 99.8 percent.

"Of the 13, 4 companies have the facilities, but only 2 companies are able to supply fuel grade in a volume of 40 thousand kiloliters per year whose raw materials are from molasses," Eniya said.