08/22/2008 13h37
Balbo sells organic alcohol to L'Oréal
Valor Econômico 08/22/2008
Grupo Balbo, the largest producer of organic sugarcane in the country, will export organic alcohol to the French multinational L'Oreal. The raw material will be intended for the production of cosmetics and perfumes of the company. Balbo is the supplier of this type of raw material to Natura. The increase of the international demand for organic products leverages the businesses of the Balbo family. The cosmetics industries, for times criticized by their controversial methods of production, such as carrying out tests in animals, are adopting the "green" sugarcane as a passport for sustainability. "Several cosmetics companies are interested in this type of raw material because they want to have their image associated to sustainability", said Leontino Balbo Júnior, commercial officer of the group. The group supplies Natura with 6 million liters of neutral alcohol every year. With L'Oreal purchasing alcohol, the production of neutral alcohol will have to be increased at least six times. With that, the group will invest in a piece of equipment called rectification plant, used to make alcohol purer. With earnings of nearly R$ 300 million (US$ 191.1 million) in the 2007/08 harvest, the
Balbo group has two alcohol and sugar plants in São Paulo and 70% of interest in another unit in Minas Gerais. The São Francisco plant, in Sertãozinho (SP), operates with 100% of organic sugarcane. Santo Antônio, installed in the same city, is under the final stage of conversion for the same method. The Minas Gerais unit, on its turn, is still undergoing transition to this type of planting. "We have a program to integrate our 300 (sugarcane) suppliers into the organic product philosophy", he said. 50% of the sugarcane used is produced by the group. The company produces nearly 75 thousand tons of sugar every harvest, 80% of which are organic, and 160 million liters of alcohol. Until the current harvest, the 2008/09 harvest, 5% of the total was organic, but it will increase to more than 20%. After 20 years producing "green" sugarcane, the group has ordered Unicamp to carry out studies in order to validate its model of production. The carbon inventory made by Unicamp indicated the São Francisco plant releases 35% less greenhouse effect gases than a conventional plant, after analyzing the sugarcane crops between May 2006 and June 2007, the agricultural production, the consumption of inputs and the industrialization. Such evaluation resulted in the Carbon Neutral stamp that has the GHG Protocol, international model of quantification of the emission of gases, as basis.
