08/25/2008 13h35
São Paulos sugarcane crosses border and gains market
Valor Econômico - 08/25/2008
The Piasa group, controlled by the bottlers of Coca-Cola and one of the greatest producers of sugar in Mexico, will receive, within the next days, an order that may change the courses of the company. The company imported sugarcane's genetic material from São Paulo in order to increase its production and it has already started planning its way in the ethanol market. The genetic material was developed by researchers of the Campinas Agronomy Institute (IAC), connected to the Secretariat of Agriculture of the State of São Paulo. The negotiation of more productive varieties of sugarcane developed by the IAC for national and foreign companies must become ordinary. "We are selling technology for Brazilian and foreign companies so that they increase productivity in regions ideal for the planting of sugarcane", told
Valor the Secretary of Agriculture of the State, João de Almeida de Sampaio Filho. Besides Mexico, the IAC also negotiates the exportation of genetic material to African countries, like Angola and Mozambique, which are also interested in increasing their investments in the sugar and alcohol sector. Brazil is the starting point for the importation of genetic material, since it has expertise in the production of sugarcane-based sugar and alcohol. According to Sergio Quintero, Officer of the Piasa group, the company entered into an agreement with IAC for five years and it may enter into other agreements with other Brazilian research companies and universities with this same purpose. "The productivity of the sugarcane processed by our plants reaches nearly 65 tons per hectare. We want to increase the productivity by 15% with these new varieties ", affirmed Quintero. In the Mid-South of Brazil, the average productivity is nearly 85 tons of sugarcane per hectare. According to Quintero, besides the genetic material, the group is also importing industrial equipment from Dedini Indústria de Base, with headquarters in Piracicaba (SP), as well as from other São Paulo companies. In the domestic market, the sale of sugarcane genetic material is also strongly heated, mainly for the Mid-Western of the country. In the west of Bahia, the IAC entered into a partnership with the Foundation of Support to the Research for the Development of the West of Bahia (
Fundação BA) to develop varieties that are ideal for that region. In each State of such new frontiers, the IAC keeps fields with experiments for new varieties of sugarcane. The Secretary of Agriculture, João Sampaio, affirmed that all the resources obtained from the sale of sugarcane genetic material return to the institute in order to support new researches. Sampaio did not reveal the earnings of the IAC with the sale of such varieties. "Our budget for this year is R$ 11.5 million (US$ 7.32 million), the greatest ever, for the several research centers of the State."
