[Gasification] Ethanol fuels growth of Brazilian agriculture

[Benjamin Domingo Bof]

  Ethanol fuels growth of Brazilian agriculture - 04/24/2008 

   Locality:  
 Source: Business.scotsman.com   
 
 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown's statement that the UK needs to reassess its commitment of producing biofuels from land formerly devoted to crops for food production will have come as no great surprise to those who have questioned the economics of the headlong rush to renewable sources of energy. 
Meanwhile, Brazil is pressing ahead from its already leading position as the world's largest producer of ethanol. This rapidly expanding industry is based on sugar cane, with suitable land for this crop now changing hands at up to £8,000 per hectare ADVERTISEMENT– a valuation which site very close to the top of the Scottish market. But the reality is that serious investors in agricultural land, including operators from New Zealand, Australia and North America, have now grasped the fact that production costs in Brazil are much lower than in most of the developed world. 

A group of 16 members of the Scottish Association of Young Farmers' Clubs visited Brazil last December, largely as a result of sponsorship from the Cameron Trust. The trust was set up by John Cameron, a former president of NFU Scotland, and his wife Margaret following the sale of the major part of their extensive farming operations two years ago for price that must have approached £10 million. 

The Camerons have no immediate family, but have a reputation of steering the younger generation in the right direction: those chosen must prove their worth. 

Andrew Stevenson from Fife was one of the group which visited Brazil. He reported this week on the scale and future potential of the sugar and ethanol industries in South America. 

He said: "Sugar cane is one of the biggest growth sectors within Brazilian agriculture for many reasons, with energy security and environmental concerns being two of the main drivers. Renewable energy sources of energy in Brazil are not uncommon with 45 per cent of the requirements being fed from these." 

But that is just a beginning, according to Stevenson, who was clearly impressed with what he saw during the ten-day tour. 

He said: "Currently there are 350 sugar cane plants operating in Brazil producing 20 billion litres of ethanol and 30 million tonnes of sugar. By 2012 it is predicted that there will be 412 plants producing 38 billion litres of ethanol with an exportable surplus of 10.5 billion litres. 

"This source of energy, however, requires land to produce it. Fortunately this is something that Brazil has in abundance. Currently 6.3 million hectares are cultivated for sugar cane production and projections show that by 2020 that will have doubled." 

That expansion is almost certainly to be at the cost of a further reduction in the Amazon rainforest, an exceedingly touchy subject. On a world scale Brazil accounts for 38 per cent of ethanol production but, in terms of exports, Brazil is by far the largest player with over 65 per cent of the market. 

Stevenson added: "Sugar cane is undoubtedly the most competitive feedstock to produce ethanol, with higher yields, lower costs which are competitive with crude oil at $40 per barrel, and a very positive energy and environmental balance." 
  
       
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