When this topic pops up I sometimes see people commenting about ethanol in Brazil, so might as well highlight a difference: that ethanol is mostly made of molasses, a byproduct.

Molasses are often sold “as is”, but there’s almost no market for them, in contrast with white sugar. So fermenting and distilling them (into either molasses rum or fuel) is a good option, and if anything it’s more like repurposing what would otherwise go to waste.

So, note the situation is completely different from growing maize for ethanol, where you’d use otherwise useful arable land with maize just for fuel.