Sino-Brazilian partnership to produce up to 1 billion liters of ethanol for China
According to BBC Brasil, a Chinese state-owned enterprise and a Brazilian group have signed [*Portuguese] an agreement to build two large ethanol factories in Brazil, the output of which will be entirely for the Chinese market. The venture comes at a time when China is considering reducing the production of ethanol from grains and to switch to non-food crops and biofuel imports (previous post). This Sino-Brazilian partnership is the latest in a series of Chinese investments in biofuel production abroad - with projects in the Philippines, Indonesia, Mozambique, Malaysia, and Nigeria. Like Japan, the People's Republic is securing a 'green reserve' of bioenergy located in the continents that are crossed by the equator.
China's state-owned BBCA Biochemicals, located in Anhui province (southeast China), and Brazil’s Grupo Farias, from Pernambuco state (northeast Brazil), have joined forces to set up the plants, at an investment of 390 million reais (€149/US$200 million), which are expected to come online between 2009 and 2010 and will be amongst the ten largest in Brazil. BBCA Biochemical is the sole biofuel producer authorized by the Chinese government to supply fuel ethanol to Anhui, Shandong, JiangSu and Hebei provinces. It has a domestic capacity of 440,000 tons/year in China, but now decides to produce abroad and import. The Grupo Farias currently operates 11 ethanol plants.
Each factory in the Chinese-Brazilian partnership should have a processing capacity of 5 million tons of sugarcane per year - which is large, even by Brazilian standards. Per plant, a production of between 400 and 500 million liters is expected. According to figures from the Union of Sugar Cane Industries (Unica), the country's biggest factories currently are Barra (7 million tons), Sao Martinho (6.7 million), Santa Elisa (5.9 million), Vale do Rosario (5.4 million) and Itamarati (5 million). Combined, the Sino-Brazilian venture may ship up to 1 billion liters of ethanol to China per year.
The factories are likely to be built in the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão.
Over the coming weeks the chairman of BBCA Biochemicals Anhui, Li Rong-Jie, will travel to Brazil with a group of Chinese executives to define the final details of the partnership with Grupo Farias:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: sugarcane :: ethanol :: biofuels trade :: Brazil :: China ::
China's import taxes
The Brazilian press has reported that Grupo Farias will have a majority-stake in the partnership and that the taxes on importing ethanol into China were still under discussion. “We are jointly informing the Chinese government so that it can understand that it needs to lower taxes on ethanol," Farias said.
According to figures from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing, the Chinese government’s tariff table shows that taxes on alcohol imports can vary between 30 and 40 percent.
"The current tax is actually a levy on alcoholic beverages. We are currently trying to convince the Chinese government of the fact that removing the tariff on ethanol as a fuel is in its own interest. It will boost imports of the green fuel", says Charles Tang, president of the Brazilian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Grupo Farias is a family run business with headquarters in Pernambuco. It has over 40 years of experience in the sugarcane ethanol industry.
Brazil is attracting considerable investments from Asian countries, amongst them India and Japan, with which it has export agreements.
Illustration: One of the Grupo Farias' ethanol plants, Vale Verde Itapací, in the state of Goias. Credit: Grupo Farias.
China's state-owned BBCA Biochemicals, located in Anhui province (southeast China), and Brazil’s Grupo Farias, from Pernambuco state (northeast Brazil), have joined forces to set up the plants, at an investment of 390 million reais (€149/US$200 million), which are expected to come online between 2009 and 2010 and will be amongst the ten largest in Brazil. BBCA Biochemical is the sole biofuel producer authorized by the Chinese government to supply fuel ethanol to Anhui, Shandong, JiangSu and Hebei provinces. It has a domestic capacity of 440,000 tons/year in China, but now decides to produce abroad and import. The Grupo Farias currently operates 11 ethanol plants.
Each factory in the Chinese-Brazilian partnership should have a processing capacity of 5 million tons of sugarcane per year - which is large, even by Brazilian standards. Per plant, a production of between 400 and 500 million liters is expected. According to figures from the Union of Sugar Cane Industries (Unica), the country's biggest factories currently are Barra (7 million tons), Sao Martinho (6.7 million), Santa Elisa (5.9 million), Vale do Rosario (5.4 million) and Itamarati (5 million). Combined, the Sino-Brazilian venture may ship up to 1 billion liters of ethanol to China per year.
The factories are likely to be built in the northeastern Brazilian state of Maranhão.
We plan to build units that will be amongst the largest in Brazil. Because of agro-industrial scale advantages we have decided to build two separate plants. [Because of the particularities of sugarcane logistics] building a single large factory does not offer competitive advantages. It is almost certain that the plants will be located there [in Maranhão state], as there is a good area for planting cane and the port of Itaqui has the capacity to receive large ships - Eduardo Farias, the chairman of Grupo Farias.The Itaqui port is located in the state capital city of São Luís.
Over the coming weeks the chairman of BBCA Biochemicals Anhui, Li Rong-Jie, will travel to Brazil with a group of Chinese executives to define the final details of the partnership with Grupo Farias:
biofuels :: energy :: sustainability :: sugarcane :: ethanol :: biofuels trade :: Brazil :: China ::
China's import taxes
The Brazilian press has reported that Grupo Farias will have a majority-stake in the partnership and that the taxes on importing ethanol into China were still under discussion. “We are jointly informing the Chinese government so that it can understand that it needs to lower taxes on ethanol," Farias said.
According to figures from the Brazilian embassy in Beijing, the Chinese government’s tariff table shows that taxes on alcohol imports can vary between 30 and 40 percent.
"The current tax is actually a levy on alcoholic beverages. We are currently trying to convince the Chinese government of the fact that removing the tariff on ethanol as a fuel is in its own interest. It will boost imports of the green fuel", says Charles Tang, president of the Brazilian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Grupo Farias is a family run business with headquarters in Pernambuco. It has over 40 years of experience in the sugarcane ethanol industry.
Brazil is attracting considerable investments from Asian countries, amongst them India and Japan, with which it has export agreements.
Illustration: One of the Grupo Farias' ethanol plants, Vale Verde Itapací, in the state of Goias. Credit: Grupo Farias.
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