Funds to sugarcane to reach US$ 33 billion until 2012
DCI
Brazil, the biggest international producer of sugar and alcohol, will invest US$ 33 billion in the next three years in order to increase the production of sugarcane, which should double up to 2015, said Fabio Torquato, Officer of International Relations of the Mercosur Chamber of Commerce. "Brazil expects to invest nearly 33 billion US dollars in sugarcane crops (until 2012)", he said during the World Sugar Summit, in Cape Town.
Torquato affirmed the investments have already started, mainly aimed at the production of ethanol and that they will be used for the construction of new plants and in the improvement of the already existing ones. "Brazil has potential of 65 million hectares for new crops, so it is a great potential". He affirmed Brazil needs another 4 to 5 million hectares in new crops to double its production, after harvesting 571.8 million tons of sugarcane in the 2008/09 harvest. "We believe we can reach 1.2 billion tons of cane produced in nearly six years, by 2015", said Torquato. "We currently have nearly 400 plants and we will increase it to almost 500 until 2015", said Torquato.