São Paulo – The Brazilian sugar and alcohol industry has potential for expanding its businesses abroad, even at this moment of economic crisis. The statement was made by the secretary of Production and Agroenergy at the Ministry of Agriculture, Manoel Bertone.
"The sugar and alcohol industry has potential for development in the international market, in both sugar production, which has decreased in the European Union and in India, and ethanol production. We are capable of supplying the domestic and foreign markets well," said Bertone, according to a release issued by the ministry.
The secretary spoke on the subject last Thursday (30th) during the presentation of the first survey of the 2009 sugarcane crop, conducted by the National Food Supply Company (Conab), a state-owned organisation linked to the ministry. Brazil is already the world’s leading sugar manufacturing and exporting country and the second in ethanol manufacturing, second only to the United States.
The foreign market should expand particularly in the sugar field. "Presently, we export 70% of our sugar and 15% of our ethanol. With the appreciation of the dollar [against the Brazilian real], the bumper cane crop in India and the good international prices, sugar is now better paid for than fuel," asserted the director of Logistics and Business Management at the Conab, Sílvio Porto, according to the release.
The survey conducted by Conab showed that this year, the sugar and alcohol industry should process from 622.03, million to 633.72 million tonnes of sugarcane for sugar and alcohol manufacturing, a record-high volume. If confirmed, it will represent growth of 8.6% to 10.7% compared with 2008. "This proves that the sugar and alcohol market remains hot, despite the crisis," claimed the president of the company, Wagner Rossi, according to the ministry’s release.
The main contributing factors to the growth are the milling of 28 million tonnes of cane leftover from the previous crop and the 9.9% expansion of planted area, with the entry into operation of 25 new mills in the country. According to the ministry, the cane area destined for the sugar and alcohol industry has increased from 17.4 million acres to 19.2 million acres.
In turn, total planted area with sugarcane grew from 23.2 million acres to 23.6 million acres, and a record-breaking harvest of 674.8 million tonnes is expected, representing growth of 3.3% over the previous crop. The figures include sugarcane destined for other purposes.
The total amount of sugarcane earmarked for the sugar and alcohol industry should result in the production of up to 37.91 million tonnes of sugar and 28.6 billion litres of ethanol.
*Translated by Gabriel Blum
