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Ethanol Proves A Sweet Export
By Mr Ethanol | August 20, 2007
Houston Chronicle:
With a sweep of his arm, Gov. Cesar Trelles showed off acres of hilly scrub-land that, at first glance, seem best suited for the foxes, lizards and geckos that call it home.
But in a few months, he said, the panorama will change dramatically.
Dallas-based Maple Energy will level the land and plant 20,000 acres of sugar cane in a $157 million project to produce ethanol for export to the United States and Europe.
It plans to begin growing sugar cane here in 2008, using water from a nearby river and a sophisticated drip irrigation system. Ethanol production is expected to start in 2008 with a goal of producing 30 million gallons a year.
“Nobody wanted this land, but now it is worth very much,” said Trelles, the governor of Piura state in northern Peru.
Latin American and Caribbean countries are trying to catch the biofuels wave.
Government officials throughout the region say they want to help reduce global warming and improve public health by producing a less-polluting fuel. But the main impetus is the desire to create jobs, attract new investment and increase exports.
“It’s a cleaner, cheaper and homegrown source of energy,” said David Lewis, who tracks biofuel developments in Latin America and the Caribbean for Manchester Trade, a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm.
Brazil has jumped far ahead of everyone in the region. Most other countries plan to begin exporting biofuels by 2010.
No country in Latin America or the Caribbean other than Brazil is exporting biofuels to the United States made from a homegrown crop, according to Lewis and officials in the region who track biofuels production.
Companies in Jamaica, Trinidad, Costa Rica and El Salvador are importing alcohol made from Brazilian sugar cane, processing it into ethanol and then shipping it duty-free to the United States.
Together, the four countries have exported about 90 million gallons of ethanol to the United States through May, or about as much as Brazil, Lewis said…
Topics: Brazil, Ethanol, Market, News |
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