President Prabowo to Build Over 30 Ethanol Plants to Boost Biofuel Use

MALANG - President Prabowo Subianto has decided that the government will build at least 30 ethanol plants to accelerate the use of ethanol blended fuel in Indonesia. This number can be increased to 50 plants if needed. Prabowo conveyed the decision when attending the Simultaneous Harvest with the TNI in Malang, East Java, Friday, July 17, 2026. According to Prabowo, Indonesia has been able to move towards the use of E10 gasoline or fuel with a 10 percent ethanol mixture. However, its industrial capacity is still limited because it is only supported by one factory. "We can get to E20. It takes a factory. The factory we just have is only one factory. I decided that we will build at least 30 factories," said Prabowo. "If necessary, up to 50 factories," he continued. Prabowo compared Indonesia's position with India which has already used E20 and Brazil which has even used E100. "India has E20. Brazil has E100. When Indonesia can't? Indonesia can," he said. Ethanol is a vegetable fuel that can be produced from sugarcane, among others. In the E10 mixture, every liter of gasoline contains about 10 percent ethanol. At E20, the content rises to 20 percent. Prabowo said the development of ethanol was related to the government's efforts to strengthen energy self-sufficiency. He also said Indonesia had started producing solar from palm oil and had stopped importing the fuel since June. In the same event, TNI Commander General Agus Subiyanto reported that the Air Force assisted 236,048 hectares of sugarcane land in the 2026 harvest season. Production is estimated at 18.386 million tons of sugarcane or equivalent to 1.36 million tons of sugar. Apart from sugar, sugarcane can be processed into molasses, bioethanol, organic fertilizer, and materials for industry and pharmaceuticals.