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03/03/2010 11h40

Cosan should process up to 10% more this cycle

Valor Econômico

Cosan, the world's biggest sugar and alcohol group ended the 2009/10 harvest with the processing of 53.2 million tons of sugar cane. The performance, which was increased with the entrance of the assets of the NovAmérica Agroenergia Group, acquired in 2009, makes the crushing of Cosan bigger than the processing of Mexico as a whole, for instance, a country that is the fifth sugarcane producer in the world with 52 million tons, according to data of the FAO.

The expectation of the company for the 2010/11 harvest is to process between 5% and 10% more. "Reaching such level of growth will depend on the weather", assesses Pedro Mizutani, CEO of Cosan Açúcar e Álcool. In 2008/09 harvest, the company processed 44.2 million tons, which already represented growth of 10% compared to the previous cycle. With the absorption of the plants of NovAmérica, the processing capacity of Cosan got to 60 million tons. However, the total capacity was not used in the 2009/10 cycle because of the excess of rainfall.

The company ended the 2009/10 season with a production of alcohol of nearly 2 billion liters, a 17% increase compared to the 1.717 billion from the previous cycle. The sugar production ended the cycle at nearly 4 million tons, an expressive growth of 25% compared to the 2008/09 season, when 3.267 million tons of the commodity were produced.

With 23 plants in the country - in addition to the "greenfield" projects underway - Cosan also began, in February, the crushing in its 24th unit, the Caarapó project, in Mato Grosso do Sul. Biggest individual crusher of sugar cane in the world, Cosan has consolidated a strong position in the distribution of fuels as well, with the purchase of the assets of Esso and Petrosul, last year, besides the association commitment executed earlier this year with giant shell. In the accumulated of the three quarters of the 2008/09 season, Cosan registered net earnings of R$ 10.9 billion (US$ 5.53 billion), compared to the R$ 3.9 billion (US$ 2.13 billion) registered in the same period of the previous year.