SAO PAULO (AFP)-The world production of the ethanol biofuel will grow A 191% , going from 55.700 million liters manufactured in 2007 to 162.000 millions in 2015, according to a study presented during an International Conference on Biofuels in Sao Paulo.Â

The demand of ethanol in 2010, according to the study, will be of 101.000 million liters, infront of an offer of 88.000 million liters. Â

That “scenario tends to balance in 2015, when the offer should be near to 162.000 million liters, in front of a demand that will be around the 150.000 million liters”, reveals the study of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Economic Commission For Latin America and the Carribean of the UN (ECLAC) and the brazilian BNDES development bank .Â

In 2007, the world produced 55.700 million liters of ethanol, of them 26.000 millions in United States (based on corn), 20.000 millions in Brazil (of sugarcane), 7.400 millions in the Asian countries, and near 2.300 million liters in the European Union (EU).Â

“In those levels, the production of ethanol in 2007 represented around 4% of the 1.300 trillion liters of gasoline consumed annually in the entire world”, it pointed out.Â

“The biofuels and the ethanol were not thought as integral substitutes of the petroleum, but as additives”, told the brazilian José Graziano, representative of the FAO in Latin America and the Caribbeanto to AFP .Â

By 2050 “our projection is that there will be enough space in the earth for the biofuels production, considering the addition of 5% of biodiesel and of 10% of ethanol” in the petroleum derived fuels, on the average in the entire world, Graziano specified that was responsible for orchestrating the Hunger Zero program in Brazil.Â

“With the petroleum we will continue cohabiting while petroleum exists”, declared to AFP, the Mexican Alicia Bárcena, executive secretary of the Cepal.Â

The study of the FAO, the Cepal and the BNDES indicate that the liquid biofuels – especially the ethanol produced from sugarcane, corn and other cereals and in smaller scale the biodiesel (…) – represent today 1,5% of the world matrix of fuel for the transport.Â

The document reminds that from the 2000, the global production of ethanol tripled and that of biodiesel almost quadrupled, that of petroleum, on the other hand, only increased 7% and, “in accordance with some analysts, it will reach its maximum production in some years.”�
It adds on the other hand that “in 2006, the liquid biofuels were responsible for a little more than 1% of the world’s renewable energy and little less than 1% of the annual offer of gross petroleum, evaluated in 4,8 trillion liters (approximately 83 million daily barrels).”�
“This scenario will be able to change in a very quick way in most of the big energy consuming countries due to the application of policies that aim to a bigger use or biofuels for next decade”, it concludes.Â

Source: AFP

During the days 17 to 21 of November 2008, is being held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the “International Conference on Biofuels: the biofuels as vector of the sustainable development.”Â

The Conference will contribute for the international discussion on the challenges and opportunities presented by the biofuels and it will represent an important occasion for the boarding of the topics related with the biofuels, as energy security, production and sustainable use, agriculture and industrial processing, besides the matters bounded to the international trade, specifications and technical registers, climate change and the future of the biofuels. Â

Representatives of governments, international organisms, parliamentarian, the scientific and academic community, the private initiative, the civil society and NGOs among others are invited to participate in the Conference . All the countries members of the UN have been invited.Â

The event will be organized in two big segments. Segment “Plenary Sessions”, open to the public, during the days 17, 18 and 19 of November 2008 and Segment “Intergovernmental of High Level” during the days 20 and 21 (Dynamic and operating).Â

The conference is being organized by the Grupo Interministerial de Trabalho, integrated by the Ministério das Relações Exteriores; Casa Civil da Presidência da República; Ministério de Minas e Energia (coordenadores); Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento; Ministério do Meio Ambiente; Ministério do Desenvolvimento, Indústria e Comércio Exterior; Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia; e Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário. The work documents were elaborated by the Centro de Gestão e Estudos Estratégicos (CGEE) do Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES).Â
Five big topics related with the biofuels will be discussed:Â

a)Biofuels and Energy Security, transition of the energy matrix; diversification of the sources, universalization of the access;Â

b)Biofuels and the Moving of the Climate: Decrease of the emissions of hothouse effect, moving of the use of the land, comparative analysis of the life cycle;Â

c)Biofuels and Sustainability: alimentary security, rent generation, challenges for the echo-systems;Â

d)Biofuels and Innovation: investigation and development: biofuels of first and second generation, opportunities for Science and Technology, andÂ

e)Biofuels and International Market: trading rules; technical matters; social-environmental registers.Â

During the last two days, 20 and 21, the debates will be taken in the sphere of the High Level Intergovernmental Segment, in round tables format, of which the government’s representatives, at ministerial level, and international organisms will participate.

The investments will be made through Petrobras Biocombustible, integral subsidiary of the brazilian state company, created on past July 29th.Â

“With the creation of that enterprise, the company gets ready to assist part of the growing world demand of biofuels, besides reinforcing its commitment with the environment and with the social development in a sustainable way”, Petrobras assured.Â

“The biofuels contributes to the reduction of the global heating and facilitate the employment and rent generation, mainly in the country, with the use of the family agriculture in the production of raw materials”, said the state company.Â

And, “the biodiesel production will allow a smaller dependence of the external market, reducing the volume of diesel imports, what contributes to improve the result of the brazilian commercial scale.”Â
Petrobras Biocombustibles inaugurated two biodiesel factories recently in the municipalities of Candeias (state of Bahia, northeast) and of Quixadá (Ceará, northeast), while a third in Montes Claros (Minas Gerias, southeast), is in phase of “operative aconditioning.”Â

The total capacity of biodiesel production of the three factories will be of 170 million liters per year. In Brazil the use of 3% biodiesel in the diesel derived from petroleum is obligatory, for what it needs to produce 840 millions of that biofuel per year.Â

Source: Invertia

The high specialization and professionalism of Expobioenergía has transformed it into the  sector´s annual appointment and so is it shown by the numbers that have been mentioned during its third edition. Â

Expobioenergía.08 reached the foreseen objectives and it attracted a total of 13.186 visitors, 40% more than in the previous edition. This fact, next to the high grade of satisfaction shown by the exhibitors makes Expobioenergía become again the obliged appointment of the bioenergy sectorduring 2009. Â

Expobioenergía in its third edition has been able to consolidate and has become the biggest European encounter in the sector of the bioenergy, being able to highlight regarding to other events of similar characteristic by its high specialization level, the high number of exhibitors and represented trademarks (a total of 424), the number of professional visitors and the numerous complementary activities that are developed around this fair.Â

The companies of the sector that are interested in participating in Expobioenergía.09 can already reserve space and profit from the different discounts if they do their inscription before December 19th.Â

Cesefor and Avebiom, organizers of Expobioenergía, will maintain during 2009 the objective, that since its first edition was set: to promote the bioenergy and to generate an outline of experiences exchange among companies and professionals of the sector.Â

Source: Expobioenergía/ María Castañeda

Works will start in 15 days.Â

Dreyfus plans to begin to enlarge its production capacity of the oil factory plant that it owns in Timbúes. Â

In spite of the international financial crisis, the fall of the crushing level because of the smaller sales of the producers and the obstacles to the exports, the group has foreseen to begin in 15 days the works in the plant of soya milling, and for it 200 workers will be incorporated.Â

Representatives of the company were gathered in the Ministry of Labor in San Lorenzo city, where they commented that the idea is to take the plant from 8.000 to 16.000 tons.Â
As they counted, the plant had to delay the investments foreseen for the first semester of the year because of the agricultural conflict.Â

Why enlarge in these contexts? It is that the big groups have a strategic vision and they know that there are fundamental conditions and of structural character for the export of grains that allow to be optimistic to the medium term. They could also process imported soya from Paraguay, since in Timbúes they have a barge quay (besides a biofuel factory).Â
The comment of Dreyfus’ executives sounded as the most wonderful music for the Labor officials due to the working lack that the construction and assembly companies have now a days.Â

From the Ministry of Labor, they confirmed that the plant has not suffered restrictions in its personnel and it continues working with total normality, in spite of journalistic versions that circulated.Â

From the labor portfolio they expressed that there are projects of oil factory companies that are stopped, but that they could be resumed in the medium term.Â
Regarding Dreyfus, it has several investment projects in portfolio, as the new complex of Bahía Blanca (biofuels plant, silos and port terminal) with a payment of around u$s 130 M.Â

It is not the only investment of Dreyfus on the march in that area of Buenos Aires. He bought a property of 23 hectares at u$s 7.000 each one in the industrial park of Olavarría to build a center of strategic storing that will make tip in the direct purchase and it will supply the port of Bahía Blanca.Â

At the beginning of August, the first biofuel plant of Dreyfus began to work in their complex in Timbúes, at the north of Noble. They also inaugurated this year a barge quay.Â
Anabela TramontiniÂ

Courtesy of Punto Biz for Nextfuel Argentina/biodiesel.com.ar
Â

Experts assure that the impact in the country will be minimum, but they advise to be alert. Â

When the 40 entities that conform the Forum of the Agroindustrial Chain decided the agenda of their fifth annual forum-under the title “agriculture and atmosphere, a shared agenda for the sustainable development”-, the scenario on which the complex moved was far from being the desired one, but it was much better than the current one. Â

It is that none of their members could dimension the size of the international financial crisis that happened in the last two months and whose effects are still an incognito. “The storm had begun with the resolution 125, that although was neutralized its consequences still persist on the whole chain. To that must be added the financial crisis that is of difficult prediction”, diagnosed Ricardo Forbes, president of the Board of Cereals of Buenos Aires, in charge of the organization of the Forum that was carried out this week in Buenos Aires.Â

However, the leader defended the thematic proposed. “The work that we have carried out on environmental impact is a testimony that the agroindustrial chain doesn’t have its senses in the short term, but on the projection of the activity”, he justified.Â

The situation burns. Beyond the restlessness that the global heating wakes in the design of strategies to the medium term, each one of the links that conform the chain is worried by the situation. All have their reasons for not agreeing with the treatment that the national Government is giving to the most dynamic sector in the national economy and responsible for 50 percent of the exports that the country generates. That was the sensation that they expressed in the manifesto text of the Forum, announced at the end of the conference.Â

“The luck of the most important exports cannot be tied to the will of officials that claim reserved exceptional abilities, in many of the cases, to the Constitution and decide who can produce , sell buy, store, export or exercise any activity in the sector”, complained the representatives of the alliance formed in 2004 by the organizations of the primary production, suppliers of inputs and services, transport, food industry, and grains and meats marketers.Â

In front of the impossibility of acting on the effects of the world financial crack, the agroindustry is convinced that the Government should “correct the direction”, and to establish a system of fair game rules, stable and not discriminatory, dictated constitutionally by authorities authorized for it.Â

“Certainly the international crisis has been a substantial component in the emergency, but who suffer it inside the chain have been supporting, from the same moment of the non positive vote, a frankly hostile and discriminatory attitude. As if it was a sanction for the audacity of having defended what was fair”, they admited.Â

The other climate. The necessity to achieve a synergy between the agricultural production and the environment was topic boarded by outstanding specialists. Otto Solbrig, emeritus professor of biology of the University of Harvard, and Jorge Adámoli, investigator of the Conicet and environmental advisor of private companies, were responsible for the presentation of a report ordered by the Forum, and coordinated by themselves, on the possible impact of the climatic change in the primary activity.Â

“The phenomenon is already among us and it will increase the dependence of some countries of importing foods, because they will see the humidity of their floors diminished like it is happening in Australia. But the increases of the production will come mainly from the biggest agricultural efficiency, the biotechnology use, conservationist techniques, and the integrated handling of plagues”, Solbrig assured.Â

The argentinean scientist, that has been living for more than 40 years in United States but that continues very related to the national production, was shown in favor to the growth of the agriculture starting from the escalation instead of occupying new lands, especially in counties as Chaco where there is a lot of uncertainty of how the precipitations will be in the future.Â

Local relief. At world impact level, Argentina has advantages since the effects of the climatic mutation will be much sharper in the north hemisphere. But it is neccesary to not lower the guard if the productivity wants to be maintained. “If we don’t do anything it is possible that the production can decrease between two and five percent; it may not be a disaster at individual level, but it will affect the country seriously”, Solbrig alerted.Â

A vademecum of good agricultural practices must include the protection of the floor through conservationist techniques, “the direct sowing is one to them, but not the only one”, he clarified; the extraction of nutrients must be compensated with the incorporation of fertilizers; to apply an integrated handling of plagues, to reduce the use of pesticides.

We cannot make a modern agriculture without agrichemicals, but it is necessary to use them well”, he said; to reduce the fossil fuel use and to protect the superficial and underground sources of water. “Everything inside clear game rules and of protection of the rights of ownership”, he clarified.Â

In the same syntony, the meteorologist Eduardo Sierra exhorted to “pay attention” to the climatic changes that can affect to the agroindustry, but he questioned some “very exaggerated versions” that predict a high increase of the level of the sea, intense droughts and other cataclysms.Â

“In the last years the global heating seems to have stopped a little. Now it is lowering or at least it is stable, what marks a deceleration of the process. The natural processes cannot be lineal”, he indicated during his dissertation in the Marriott Plaza Hotel. He assured that in a scenario of good international prices, low inputs and good internal policies, the climatic changes that would take place in the next years would not have such a serious effect, although he advised to pay attention to them. Especially to the decrease of the rains in the west of the country. The director of the Master in Agricultural Meteorology of the UBA indicated that in the last campaign the decrease of the surfaces sowed with wheat, corn and sunflower was quite important because of the reduction of the volume of rains that is taking place on the extreme west. “We have to adapt to this and a process is required. If we don’t get ready a serious problem can be initiated. The advantage of paying attention to these processes of climatic change is to give them their true dimension. The temperature won’t go up 14 grades, the pampeana region won’t flood. But we are in front of a decrease of rains that is subtracting arable surface from us”, he highlighted.Â

Alejandro Rollán- special correspondent to Buenos AiresÂ

Source: La Voz

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

Narón, Spain. The facilities will be fed by the electric substation of the sector three of the pool of firms .Â

At the end of October the works will be finished and a period of tests will begin that will be prolonged for two months. Â

The Peninsular Biocarburantes company, with social headquarters in Madrid, has foreseen to start at beginnings of the 2009 the biodiesel plant that at the moment is building in the fourth sector of the polygon of Rio do Pozo. The facilities will start up, as confirmed by the vice-president of the company, Jesus Calleja, with an annual production of 120.000 tons.Â

The Peninsular Biocarburantes firm is owner of the parcel N4, with 8.014 square meters of surface. The works of the plant construction, where biodiesel will be elaborated “starting from non eatable vegetables” started some months ago “with certain delay”, Calleja said.

However, this delay in the beginning of the work doesn’t have to do, at least as it was explained by the vice-president of the company, with the lack of services in the fourth phase of the polygon, denounced some days ago by the government’s team. “I ignore if we are working or without generators. In any event, the delay is simply because the whole work has a little delay”, annotated Calleja.Â

The works are right now in the staging and assembling phase, and the company forsees that by the end of October or beginnigs of November the plant tanks be given already finished. Starting from that moment, the facilities will begin to work in testing period, process that will be prolonged for two months.

Keeping in mind that Fenosa has not yet presented in the Concello the project for the construction of the electric substation of the fourth sector, everything seems to indicate that the biodiesel plant will be operative before Fenosa provides the parcels with electric supply. In this sense, Jesus Calleja commented that “our informations are that if when the plant is working the substation of the fourth phase is not built, we will be able to connect to the one of sector three of River do Pozo that is already working”.Â

The raw materials to produce the 120.000 annual tons of biodiesel will enter through the external port of Caneliñas, that will also be used to give exit the elaborated fuel.Â

By Antía Urgorri

ROME (AFP)-The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)Â questioned the benefits of the biofuels and requested a revision of the policies and subsidies to those products, in a report published on Tuesday in Rome.Â

The document that circulates annually under the title ‘The State of Food and Agriculture´ (SOFA), analyzes the advantages and risks of the biofuels. Â

“The biofuels production based on agricultural products grew more than the triple between 2000 and 2007 and now it almost supposes two percent of the world consumption of fuels for the transport”, sustains the report.Â

“In spite of the scarce importance of the liquid biofuels in terms of the world energy supply, the demand of agricultural raw materials (sugar, corn, oleaginous seeds) to obtain them will continue increasing in the next decade and maybe later on, increasing the pressure on the alimentary prices”, warned the experts of the FAO.Â

The agency of United Nations also sustains that the biofuel impact on the environment ” is not always positive.”Â

“A bigger production and biofuels employment won’t necessarily contribute to reduce the emissions of hothouse effect gases as much as previously it had been supposed”, reveals the report.Â

“The changes in the use of the earth – for example the deforestation to satisfy the growing demand of agricultural products – are a great threat to the quality of the floor, the biodiversity and the emissions of hothouse effect gases”, Jacques Diouf pointed out, general director of the agency of United Nations.Â

The experts of FAO estimate that “the policies and subsidies of the biofuels should be reconsidered with urgency to maintain the objective of the world alimentary security, to protect the poor peasants, to promote a wide based rural development and to assure the environmental sustainability.”Â

The FAO also criticizes the fiscal incentives because they have generated “the quick artificial growth of the biofuels production”, what implies “high costs” so much economic as social and environmental.Â

The biofuels is object of a growing polemic, since its detractors assure that they contribute to the rise of the prices of the foods, the deforestation and the displacement of populations in the poor countries.Â

For its defenders, on the other hand, the biofuels can be good to cut the dependence on the petroleum and to fight against the global heating, when reducing the emissions of hothouse effect gases generated by fossil fuels.Â

The report of the FAO will generate a strong debate, mainly among the biofuel producing latin american countries, as Brazil, Colombia and the Central American El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, which took the road to the biofuels, although to a smaller scale.¼br /> United States is the first ethanol producer starting from corn (alcohol fuel), with 48% of the world total in 2007. Brazil follows its step, with 31% of the ethanol world production, manufactured starting from the sugarcane. Â

“We still don’t know the report, but for the anticipations I believe that it will raise reactions, because it doesn’t correspond to that agreed in the summit of June held in Rome”, commented to AFP Francisco Coy, representative of Colombia before the agency of United Nations.Â

The signatory countries of the declaration of Rome invited five months ago to make “studies in depth” on the biofuels, qualified as “an opportunity and a challenge.”¼br /> The answer to that order seems to be the wide report of the FAO, of some 130 pages, in which “the perspectives, the risks and the opportunities of the biofuels” are analyzed, as the subtitle recites.Â

The FAO on the other hand nurtures big hopes on the second generation biofuels.¼br /> “They are still not available at commercial level, but they use raw materials as wood, high grasses, agricultural and forest waste, and they could improve the balance of the fossil energy and the hothouse effect gases of the biofuels”, assures the entity.

“The second generation technologies, if well designed and applied, they would have a bigger potential in terms of reduction of the emissions of hothouse effect gases with a smaller pressure on the natural resources”, Diouf assured.Â

Source: AFP

They will be held on the 21st and 22nd of October.Â

The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services of San Lorenzo presented formally yesterday the 4º Round of Negotiations and Products and Services Fair that will be held on the 21st and 22nd of October in the property of the entity located on Falucho and Avenue San Martin streets. Â

For the fourth year in a row, the institution that holds more than 175 associated companies of the region, will offer the possibility to generate bonds among small and medium companies congregated in the Chamber, with the objective of presenting its products or services to the big industries of the cord and inserting them in the economy of the area.Â

Just as it has happened previous years; the event will have a great fair, where stands will be located inside the property of the Chamber, so that the interested companies can expose their services or products to those that converge to the event, as zonal authorities, managers, directive, etc.Â

On the other hand, the Round of Negotiations , will consist of fifteen minutes private interviews with the called “demanding”, those responsible for the areas of Administration and Human resources and Production, Purchases and Maintenance of the industries of the cord that will listen to the “offerers”; those proprietors or pymes representatives who will show their product and or / services.Â

This modality will be held in the room of events of the Chamber that will have private boxes so that the interviews are developed with total privacy.Â

This year, also, it will have an Auditorium Tent where topics of interest for the companies will be debated. One of those confirmed to these chats is the Engineer Caesar Mackler, Secretary of Environment of the County.Â

According to estimates, a hundred companies will be the offerers and 23 the industries that will interview them.Â

“The punctual objective is that the demanding companies can take knowledge of new options that there are in the area and in any event to opt to buy in the region and solidify the commercial relationship among small and big companies in the area, to project the growth of the region”, Alejandro Bonaudi manifested , Vice-president 2º of the Chamber of Commerce and also manager of the Complex Port General San Martin of Cargill.Â

This year new pymes have established that will be present in this event, which will be able to sum up by means of interviews the opportunity to be inserted into the region.Â
“It is also an opportunity to exchange and to know which are the requirements of the big companies that usually have their demands in terms of quality, efficiency, costs and that the small company can adapt its production or its service to these requirements and compete with other companies of the area” Bonaudi expressed.Â

On the other hand, this event will have the support of the Ministry of Production of the County: “This action of bringing near, of meeting, and that the suppliers see each other, is fundamental for us, because they help to the development of the small and medium companies. All the Chamber of Commerce should do this, because this event helps to the growth of the region and the county” said Lic. Rita Lassus, representative of the Ministry of the Production of Santa Fe.Â

This year there will be new companies that will be the most attractive in this round: “Today the vedettes, are the biofuels industries because they are the new established industries, and all try to contact with the new and also review the old again, to refresh contacts” Alberto Jacobson Indicated, President of the Chamber of Commerce.Â

By Anabela Tramontini/of the Writting of San LorenzoÂ
Courtesy of Punto Biz for Nextfuel Argentina/Biodiesel.com.ar