Plants raise mechanization in the field in 106%
Gazeta Mercantil- 04/03/2008
The sales of sugar cane-harvesters broke their record last year. According to a survey made by agronomist Ricardo Pinto, director of the Institute of Agro-industrial Development (Idea), of Ribeirão Preto (SP), the sales in 2007 reached 645 units, an increase of 106.1% compared to 313 units commercialized last year. According to Pinto, with the sales in 2007 the sugar cane harvesters fleet in the Country will raise to 2,263 units this year, and the the great majority is operating in the Center-South region. Up to 2011 - when nearly 550 million tons of sugar cane will be harvested in the Country -, the fleet must grow, according to him, in more than one thousand units per year, to 5,613 machines. According to the survey made in partnership with Alexander Elias, the area of mechanized sugar cane, 40% in 2007, will grow up to 70% in 2011. As for the index of total mechanization in the Country, including non-mechanizable areas, it will grow, according to studies, from 34,7% in 2007 to 57,4% in 2011. In 2015, according to him, more than 70% of the total area with sugar cane in the Country will be harvested mechanically. The sales of harvesters are leveraged by the installation of new plants that have already started to operate with mechanized harvest, aiming at eliminating the forest fires due to environmental requirements. The economic issue is also relevant, since the cost of the mechanized cut is cheaper. According to the survey of Idea, in addition to 37 new plants that started operating in 2006 and 2007, another 34 are foreseen for this year; 47 units for 2009; 44 for 2010; and 10 units for 2011. If it depends on the Country's three main manufacturers of harvesters - Case IH, John Deere and Santal - there will be no shortage of machines in the market, despite the excellent leap in demand. "We produce four machines per day, in the plant of Piracicaba (SP), in only one production shift", says Case IH's Richardson Gouveia. According to Jose Luiz Coelho, director of John Deere's Sugar Cane unit, the plant of Catalão (GO) can increase its production. And Ribeirão Preto's Santal, the Brazilian that disputes the market with the multinationals, has already began to invest in order to raise the production from two harvesters a month in December of 2007 to 12 monthly units until the end of 2008.