PPrelimo← Home

Economy · Energy Sector (Power, Coal, Oil & Renewables)

UPSC Prelims 2025, Question 63

The concept being tested: Global ethanol production and feedstock sources (Brazil, USA).

Consider the following statements: Statement I: Of the two major ethanol producers in the world, i.e., Brazil and the United States of America, the former produces more ethanol than the latter. Statement II: Unlike in the United States of America where corn is the principal feedstock for ethanol production, sugarcane is the principal feedstock for ethanol production in Brazil. Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

Options

  1. ABoth Statement I and Statement II are correct and Statement II explains Statement I
  2. BBoth Statement I and Statement II are correct but Statement II does not explain Statement I
  3. CStatement I is correct but Statement II is not correct
  4. DStatement I is not correct but Statement II is correctCorrect answer

The answer: Statement I is not correct but Statement II is correct

The United States, not Brazil, is the world's largest ethanol producer. The US produces close to 15-16 billion gallons a year, built almost entirely on its vast corn harvest, while Brazil produces roughly half that volume, built on sugarcane crushed at its integrated sugar-ethanol mills. So Statement I, which claims Brazil produces more than the USA, gets the ranking backwards and is incorrect. Statement II, on feedstock, is accurate: American ethanol is corn-based, refined mainly in the Midwest corn belt, whereas Brazilian ethanol is sugarcane-based, a legacy of the Pro-alcool programme launched in 1975 after the oil shocks. Since only the feedstock claim survives scrutiny, the correct choice is the one holding Statement I false and Statement II true.

What UPSC was testing

This is a classic UPSC trap of pairing one true and one false statement so that a candidate who only recalls the feedstock difference, which is common knowledge, assumes the ranking claim is equally safe and picks an option built on both being correct.

How often this comes up

This concept has appeared 5 times in UPSC Prelims General Studies Paper I between 2015 and 2025 — in 2016, 2019 and 2025.

The option-by-option autopsy for this question — why each of the other three is wrong, and which neighbouring concept each one was built from — is in the app.

More questions on this

Other past-year questions touching Energy Sector (Power, Coal, Oil & Renewables).

UPSC 2025 · Q60

Consider the following activities: I. Production of crude oil. II. Refining, storage and distribution of petroleum…