South Africa is ready to produce bioethanol from sorghum to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels and cushion geopolitical risks, officials and business leaders say.

Josie Rowe-Setz, managing director of Blueprint Holdings, a company focused on the southern African market, said there is significant economic value in building a domestic bioethanol industry using locally grown sorghum and sugarcane.

Countries including Brazil, India, Kenya, the United States and Zimbabwe have established bioethanol industries, demonstrating the model's viability, she said. Sorghum is drought-tolerant, heat-resistant and well-suited to South Africa's agricultural conditions, she added.

"We have found that production of bioethanol is a viable industry. It will give us self-reliance, national energy sovereignty and fuel security," she said.

South Africa has the natural resources, market demand and regulatory framework needed to support bioethanol production, Rowe-Setz said. Developing the domestic bioethanol industry could also create jobs across the agricultural and manufacturing sectors, she said.

In countries where bioethanol industries succeeded, early investment was supported through targeted public finance mechanisms, and feedstock supply was strengthened through contract farming and guaranteed offtake arrangements, she added.

Landeni Kabini, acting director-general of South Africa's Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, said the government has come up with legislation aimed at removing obstacles in bioethanol production.

Authorities are prepared to work with industry players and other stakeholders to start the production of fuel derived from sorghum and sugarcane, she said.

"There was regulatory uncertainty, and we gazetted the regulations on what the price of biofuel can be, so that the industry can take off," she said. "As a government, we support the biofuels industry."

Irshaad Kathrada, CEO of the Localisation Support Fund, said South Africa has undergone a major shift from domestic fuel refining to imported finished fuels following the closure of its two largest coastal refineries between 2022 and 2023.

As a result, he said, the country now imports nearly three-fourths of its fuel from geopolitically exposed sources, leaving consumers vulnerable to global supply chain disruptions and price shocks.

"We have a credible near-term alternative, one grounded in South African soil, South African farmers and commercially proven technology," he said. "The economics are closer to viable than most people realize, the regulatory framework is finally in place, and the localization dividend is substantial."

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.