March 25 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian sugar and ethanol producer Zaharni Zavodi [BUL:3Z9] said that it has increased its domestic ethanol sales by 60% in March, in order to satisfy the increased needs of local disinfectant producers in relation to the novel coronavirus disease's spread in the country.
However, the increased domestic sales led to a decrease in exports to spirits production companies, Zaharni Zavodi said in a statement.
Currently, the company has enough raw materials for its normal ethanol production within the next three months.
According to Zaharni Zavodi, there will be no shortage of ethanol for production of disinfectants. Bulgaria needs around 1 million litres of ethanol for production of disinfectants per month, which can be produced by the four biggest players in the sector for a few days, Zaharni Zavodi said.
In 2019, Zaharni Zavodi generated 51.77% of its ethanol sales revenue on the local market, 39.71% in the EU, and 8.52% in third countries.
As at 9:20 CET on Wednesday, Zaharni Zavodi shares traded 0.78% higher at 2.6 levs ($1.44/1.33 euro) on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)