Zimbabwe relaxes fuel blending rules due to sugar cane shortage

Zimbabwe has relaxed rules for the compulsory blending of ethanol in fuel, owing to low production of sugar cane, a minister said on Tuesday.

"The ministry has relaxed the blending of petrol from fifteen percent to ten percent until adequate (ethanol) stocks are built," energy minister Dzikamai Mavhaire said in a statement.

Heavy rains made it impossible to harvest sugarcane in the major production centre in the south-east of the country, he said.

Zimbabwe passed laws last year forcing mandatory petrol blending in a bid to cut the fuel import bill.

It had planned to increase the petrol blending with ethanol to 20 percent this year.

Mavhaire said that the government had asked sugarcane producers not licensed to produce ethanol to help with the supply.

"The blending of petrol with ethanol has been progressing very well until recently," he said.