The sugar sector is in its best moment, since today president Cristina Kirchner will sign new regulation ordinances of law 26.093 that foresees incentives for the bioethanol production. The norm, that wants to promote the biofuels, was promulgated more than two years ago, during the government of Néstor Kirchner, and it established that, starting from 2010, the naphthas and the gasoil will have to be cut with at least 5% of ethanol and biodiesel. Â

The biodiesel is elaborated mainly based on the soya, while the ethanol is produced starting from the corn, sorghum or sugarcane. The new regulations will give more security to the sugar sector, since it will define the price of the product, the quality standards, the rules for the presentation of industrial plants projects and the safety regulations of these. Â

However, a study of the Aacrea association (that gathers medium and big producers) issued yesterday points out that the sugar refineries require investments to adapt the production. These investments demand a term of a year and half and only if it is carried out at the beginning of next year they will end up offering ethanol to the internal market in 2010.Â

Among the general benefits, law 26.093 foresees the refund of the VAT to the producers, as well as the possibility to redeem the investments and to not pay the tax to the liquid fuels.Â

The Government wants to modify the internal energy matrix, very tied to the petroleum and the gas, through a bigger production of atomic, wind and biofuels energy. According to the official data, the Argentina could end up demanding toward 2010 around 600.000 cubic meters of biodiesel and 250.000 cubic meters of ethanol.Â

At the present time, the biggest development is given in the biodiesel based on vegetables oils (soya-sunflower), and all its production is destined to external markets. The current production reaches the 604.000 tons of biodiesel per year, and the main producers are Renova (of Glencore and Vicentín) and Ecofuel (AGD and Bunge). Around 12 industrial plants already have approval to start working next year.Â

Josefina GiglioÂ

Source:La NaciónÂ