New CTC aims at leadership in sugarcane researching
Valor Econômico
Without a major technological leap in the past ten years, the sugar and alcohol sector of Brazil voted and passed yesterday in meeting the turning of the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) into a Joint-Stock Company (S.A.). Owner of one of the greatest sugarcane genetic banks in the world, the CTC is the "apple of the eyes" of the sector in Brazil that, despite the advances that put it in the spotlight in the sugar and alcohol scenario in the world, in some respects, it is already seen outdated in the billionaire international research market.
With the new corporate structure of the CTC, it is expected that the annual budget for research, restricted to the contributions of its shareholders, at nearly R$ 50 million (US$ 29.4 million), is multiplied with heavy-weight partnerships, expressed, for instance, in joint ventures - something the structure of an Oscip (Civil Society Organization for Public Interests), as was that of the former CTC, did not allow, explains the newly elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the new CTC, Luis Roberto Pogetti. Nobody accurately estimates what level of budget would be compatible with the research demands of the CTC. "But if we think about how much the other players that operate in the same area are investing, that value would be at least ten times greater", says Roberto Rezende Barbosa, former Chairman of Board of the CTC.
Another means to raise money for the new company would be by means of the National Development Bank (BNDES), according to Peter Mizutani, President of Cosan Açúcar e Álcool elected yesterday the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the new CTC. He denies there are already negotiations for admission of new partners at this point, especially with technology multinationals. "Indeed , there are many companies interested in entering into partnerships, something now possible since the CTC has become a joint-stock company", says Mizutani. The quest for capital outside the sector will help the Center grow in the competitive research market, he says. "Today we harvest 11 tons of sugar per hectare. But Europe is already extracting 14 tons from beets in the same area", he exemplifies.
Despite the yesterday's decision, there are still countless aspects to be defined in the operation of the new CTC. The President of the Organization of Sugarcane Growers of the Mid-South (Orplana), Ismael Perina, expresses his concern regarding a possible dilution of participation of the suppliers of sugarcane with the likely admission of new shareholders in the future. "We don't know which volumes of resources the new structure will demand from us", says Perina. Pogetti explains the new CTC enters now a phase of transition that should last nearly 6 months and in which several issues will be defined, among them the collection of royalties on varieties of sugarcane and technological service rendering.
Six of the ten chairs of the Board of Directors are chaired by representatives of the control block: Copersucar, Cosan, São Martinho, Bunge, Açúcar Guarani and the Coruripe group. The other four chairs will be occupied by ETH Bioenergia, Louis Dreyfus, the Executive Ricardo Rezende, who represents the plants of Paraná and Orplana. The Board of Executive Officers was renewed with researchers Nilson Boeta, Osmar Figueiredo Filho, and Tadeu Andrade.