Abstract The article analyzes the reasons that led to the almost catastrophic situation in the ethanol industry of the country. The existing structure of consumption of ethanol in the domestic market, when the lion's share of ethanol is used to produce alcoholic beverages, together with the actual monopolization of pricing policies, have led to the fact that spirits can produce significantly more volumes of ethanol than the market needs, while exports make high ethanol prices impossible. When considering the effectiveness of the introduction of new technological and technical solutions, almost never paid attention to their impact on the cost of finished products. So, domestic alcoholic beverages are capable of producing high quality rectified ethanol, but the need for it both within the country and in the world is limited. The main volumes of alcohol sales on world markets are formed at the expense of bioethanol and technical ethanol (ethanol for technical needs). At the same time, prices for them are formed taking into account competition with products of the same purpose, offered by producers of other branches of the economy. Therefore, the development of the ethanol industry is possible only by changing the main directions of its use in the production of beverages for technical and transport needs and taking into account the economic results of the implementation of technological and technical solutions.