The Brazilian production of alcohol is set to double in the next five years, going from the current 16.7 billion liters to 30 billion. The information was released at the Paraná Workshop Feisucro Biofuels, which took place in Curitiba, capital city of Paraná August 15.
To meet the increasing demand, the Agro-energy and Biofuel Committee (CAB) foresees the increase in 3 million hectares of sugar cane to the 6 million currently planted in Brazil. The southern state of Paraná will continue as one of the main producers in the country.
The Paraná Workshop precedes the International Fair of the Sugar-Alcohol Sector, Feisucro, due to happen in November, in São Paulo. During the workshop was announced the investment of about US$ 5 million in the installation of a biofuel producing plant, which uses sunflowers, in the city of Campo Largo, 30 kilometers away from Curitiba.
Support
The main stimulus for the expansion of the sugar cane plantations is the increase in world interest for renewable sources of energy. Adding fuels of vegetable origin to the oil products, as well as contributing with the preservation of the quality of atmospheric air, reduces the impact of the increase in fossil fuels’ prices on economy, point out analysts in the energy sector.
Following this growing interest, new investments come up for the industrialization of sugar cane. The CAB president, Maurílio Biagi, informs that about 40 new mills are in the implementation process in the country, of which three in Paraná – in the cities of Terra Rica, Paraíso and Colorado.
In the 2004/2005 harvest, the state was consolidated as the second sugar cane producer in the country, with a planted area of 354,830 hectares and a harvest of 29 million tons. The first national producer is the state of São Paulo, in the Southeast of Brazil.
Last year, according to information from the Association of Sugar and Alcohol producers of Paraná (Alcopar), the 27 mills in the state produced 1.1 billion liters of alcohol and 1.8 million tons of sugar.
Omar Nasser is from the FIEP, Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná.