Both projects will be carried out in the central province of Santa Fe and are due to come online in September 2011, the general manager of Cargill Argentina, Hugo Kranjc, told reporters after submitting the company’s plans to President Cristina Fernandez.

“This shows the company’s confidence in the country’s potential,” Kranjc said.

The power plant will have 18 MW of generating capacity, while the biodiesel facility’s annual production capacity will be 240,000 tons, the Industry Ministry said in a statement.

Both projects will be located next to a Cargill port terminal and 13,000-ton-per-day soy-processing plant in Santa Fe.

“This investment contributes to the diversification of the energy matrix, promotes the purchase of capital goods of national origin and generates value-added and real jobs,” Industry Minister Debora Giorgi said.

Cargill employs 4,000 workers in Argentina in 50 locations and its assets include export terminals, country elevators, malt plants, oilseed crushing plants, beef-processing plants and flour mills.

More than 90 percent of its production is destined for export to markets including China, Spain, Peru, Egypt, Brazil, the Netherlands, India, South Korea, Malaysia and Chile, according to the company.

SOURCE: EFE

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