Sugar around the world →
Sunday 20 -
Uganda: Mayuge Sugar Firm to Employ 1,000 Workers
The sugar factory being constructed in Mayuge district, 28km from Jinja town, is expected to employ over 1,000 people when it opens in February next year.
New Vision
Thursday 17 -
EAST TIMOR: Outsourcing Sugar Cane
DILI, Jun 17 (IPS) - The East Timor government’s recent decision to grant vast lands to an Indonesian company to plant sugar cane has been heavily criticised by Timorese society, who are demanding that the government immediately revoke the contract with the foreign company.
Tuesday 15 -
Uganda: Kakira Sugar Firm Aids Jinja Schools
The Kakira Outgrowers Rural Development Fund has built science laboratories for Busedde College and Buyengo Secondary School, both in Jinja district.
New Vision (Kampala)
Sunday 13 -
Kenya: Negotiate Tana River Sugar Project
Kenya: Negotiate Tana River Sugar Project
Business Daily (Nairobi)
Friday 11 -
Jamaican unions pledge to work with sugar owners
Jamaican unions pledge to work with sugar owners
Reuters UK
Tuesday 8 -
U.S. Sugar deal still need’s this family’s OK
The powerful and politically savvy Fanjul family is in the catbird seat when it comes to the multibillion-dollar Everglades restoration plan.
Sunday 6 -
Kenya: UK Blamed Over Mumias Sugar’s Tana Delta Row
Kenya: UK Blamed Over Mumias Sugar's Tana Delta Row
Saturday 5 -
Kenya : Biofuels plan could break the law
Kenya : Biofuels plan could break the law
RSPB
Monday 30 -
The growing dilemma of the production of biofuels and their human costs
The growing dilemma of the production of biofuels and their human costs
The Irish Times
Thursday 26 -
Brazilian Ethanol : Lean, green and not mean
Thursday 26 -
Kenya: Nema Clarifies On Mumias Project in Tana
Only a fraction of the Sh24 billion sugar project along Tana River that has attracted opposition from the community has been given the go ahead.
Business Daily
Thursday 26 -
Sugar for Biofuel to Displace Kenya’s Tana Delta Wildlife
NAIROBI, Kenya, June 26, 2008 (ENS) - Kenya's Tana River Delta, inhabited by 350 species of birds, lions, elephants, rare sharks and reptiles, is about to be converted to sugar cane production over the objections of conservationists and local communities.
Environmental News Services
Wednesday 25 -
Kenya: Lobbyists Vow to Block Tana River Sugar Project
Kenya: Lobbyists Vow to Block Tana River Sugar Project
Business Daily
Tuesday 24 -
Fiscais resgatam 118 em grandes usinas na divisa entre SP e MG
55 dos resgatados trabalhavam na Usina Agrisul, em Icém (SP), que faz parte do Grupo José Pessoa - reincidente em casos de trabalho degradante. Usina Moema, de Orindiúva (SP), assumiu responsabilidade por outras 63 pessoas
Reporter Brasil
Wednesday 18 -
Mozambique: Preferred Crops for Biofuels
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)
Monday 16 -
Human cost of Brazil’s biofuels boom
Saturday 14 -
The Fiji : No complaints from mill workers
THE Indian nationals brought to install equipment at Fiji Sugar Corporation mills said their working conditions have improved.
Friday 13 -
India’s Farmers Turning Sour on Sugar
India, the world's second largest sugar producer behind Brazil, may be forced to import the sweetener. Disgruntled sugar farmers are switching to other crops because mills are not able to pay them the mandated price. The industry blames artificially high prices set by state governments as a sop to the powerful voting bloc of 50 million sugar farmers. Details from VOA Correspondent Steve Herman in New Delhi.
VOA News
Tuesday 10 -
Brazilian Ethanol : Of Human Bondage (WSJ)
Brazilian Ethanol : Of Human Bondage (WSJ)
The Wall street Journal
Tuesday 10 -
Biofuels: Brazil disputes cost of sugar in the tank
Biofuels: Brazil disputes cost of sugar in the tank
The Guardian
Tuesday 10 -
Iran : Sugar cane factory workers’ Protest Gathering attacked by suppressive forces
Iran : Sugar cane factory workers' Protest Gathering attacked by suppressive forces
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Tuesday 10 - India : Farmers continue siege at Uttar Pradesh sugar mill
India : Farmers continue siege at Uttar Pradesh sugar mill
Lucknow, June 10: Thousands of sugarcane farmers continued for the second day their siege of a sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district to demand their long pending dues.
Friday 6 -
Don’t blame Brazilian biofuels
The real villains in the food crisis are the shocking subsidies and wastage found in North America and Europe
The Guardian
Thursday 5 -
Sun sets on Brazil’s sugar-cane cutters
· Half a million jobs will go in drive to mechanisation
· Western focus on biofuels has led to labour reforms
The Guardian
Wednesday 4 -
The biofuel solution
Global food shortages have made biofuels unpopular, but it remains an open question whether they do more harm than good
The Guardian
Wednesday 4 -
Biofuel bonanza not so sweet for Brazil’s sugar cane cutters
Half a million jobs and 500 years of tradition are to be phased out in Brazil's booming sugar cane industry to satisfy western demands for more socially acceptable work practices in the biofuel sector.
The Guardian
Wednesday 28 -
Amnesty condemns forced cane labor in Brazil
Amnesty condemns forced cane labor in Brazil
Reuters
Tuesday 27 -
WWF urges Brazil biofuel projects
Thursday 22 -
Kenya: 100 Families Evicted Over Cane Project
Kenya: 100 Families Evicted Over Cane Project
The Nation
Wednesday 21 -
The Financial Times : Poor practices taint Brazil’s ethanol industry
Poor practices taint Brazil's ethanol industry
The Financial Times
Wednesday 14 -
UK : Demolition begins at sugar plant
UK : Demolition begins at sugar plant
BBC News
Wednesday 14 -
Biofuels answer to climate change: UN, EU
Biofuels answer to climate change: UN, EU
AFP
Wednesday 30 -
Biofuels threaten lands of 60 million tribal people
Biofuels threaten lands of 60 million tribal people
Survival
Friday 25 -
India : Sugar firm land row turns bitter
India : Sugar firm land row turns bitter
The Hindu
Wednesday 23 -
Kenya: Residents Say Eviction is Unfair
Kenya: Residents Say Eviction is Unfair
The East African Standard
Wednesday 23 -
Sugar workers demand release of bonus
Sugar workers demand release of bonus
Monday 21 -
Kenya: Balance Bio-Fuel Sourcing And Meeting Food Demand
Kenya: Balance Bio-Fuel Sourcing And Meeting Food Demand
Business Daily
Sunday 20 -
Fiji : Sugar union chief resigns
Fiji : Sugar union chief resigns
The Fiji Times
Friday 18 -
Guyana seeks to end sugar worker protest
Guyana seeks to end sugar worker protest
Business Week
Friday 11 -
Netherlands and Brazil agree to cooperate on sustainable biofuel production
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Brazil and the Netherlands agreed Friday to work together on the sustainable production of biofuels and to help developing nations establish their own crops to make alternatives to fossil fuels.
AP
Wednesday 2 -
Victims of Biofuel: Nicaraguan Communities Affected by IFC-Funded Ethanol Plant File Complaint
Washington, D.C.—Over 700 community members and ex-sugarcane workers from the Pacific coast of Nicaragua filed a complaint yesterday with the International Finance Corporation for injuries to their health and environment caused by the operations of Nicaragua Sugar Estates Limited (NSEL). NSEL received a $55 million loan from the IFC in 2006 to increase its sugarcane production and to fund the construction of an ethanol plant. The complaint to the Office of the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman, the mechanism established to hold the IFC accountable to communities for violations of environmental and social standards, presents evidence that NSEL activities violated these standards.
The Center for International Environmental Law
Wednesday 2 -
Sugar firm sues Greencore over market abuse
A SUGAR importer has taken a High Court action for damages against Greencore arising out of a European Commission decision it had abused its dominant market position during the 1980s and 1990s.
Independente IE
Wednesday 2 -
Savannah High Students Raise Money for Five Sugar Refinery Families
SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - It's been almost two months since the sugar refinery explosion. Since then, we've shared stories of so many fundraisers for the families who've been directly impacted by this tragedy.
WTOC
Tuesday 1 -
Uganda: Madhvani Gives Sh400m for Scholarships
THE Muljibhai Madhvani Foundation will this year, offer over sh400m in university scholarships to Ugandan students for the 2008/2009 academic year. The funds will go to merit worthy students who lack financial backing in the fields of Agriculture, Sciences, Information Technology, Commerce and Medicine.
New Vision
Monday 31 -
Usina processada em 2007 é alvo de nova Ação Civil Pública do MPT
O Juiz Federal do Trabalho Luiz Antonio Zanqueta concedeu liminar, em 14 de março de 2008, em Ação Civil Pública ajuizada pelo Ministério Público do Trabalho – Ofício de Bauru, assegurando importantes direitos aos cortadores de cana empregados pelo condomínio agrícola Airton Edgar Augusto e Outros, do Grupo Cafeálcool, de Cafelândia, interior de São Paulo. Na decisão da Vara do Trabalho de Lins, foi determinada à empresa o cumprimento de nove obrigações legais, sob pena de pagar multa diária de quinhentos reais por trabalhador encontrado em situação irregular.
I Syndical
Tuesday 18 -
Rwanda: Madhvani to Make Country Self-Sufficient in Sugar Production
Madhvani Group of Companies, an international investment group, has pledged to make Rwanda self sufficient in sugar production within the next three years.
This was revealed by the group Managing Director, Mayur Madhvani, after his meeting with President Paul Kagame at Village Urugwiro yesterday.
"Rwanda needs 22,000 tonnes of sugar annually, we are currently producing 16,000 tonnes; we intend to increase it to the required quantity within three years," said Madhvani.
Monday 17 -
Kenya: Mumias Eyes School to Up Sugar Production
Mumias Sugar Company is changing its farmer recruitment policy and starting a dedicated training institution as it seeks to boost efficiency ahead of full liberalisation of the sugar market in 2012.
Saturday 15 -
Philippines : Suspected NPA rebels torch sugar mill stations in Negros Occ
Suspected communist rebels torched Sunday trans-loading stations of two sugar milling companies in Negros Occidental.
ABS - CSN
Saturday 8 -
Topic: Sugar is not so sweet(it wipes out habits)
A flourishing wetland on Kenya’s northern coast is under serious threat from plans to grow vast amounts of sugarcane, partly for biofuel production. Developers want to transform nearly 20,000 hectares of the spectacular Tana River Delta, into sugarcane plantations with other parts of the Delta earmarked for rice.
Care2
Thursday 6 -
Kenya: Cane transporters strike enters fourth day
A strike by sugarcane transporters at Mumias Sugar Company entered the fourth day Thursday, completely paralyzing operations at the company.
KBC
Sunday 24 -
A sweeter environment: better sugar production practice in Thailand
WWF Thailand is currently collaborating with sugar growers and processors to ensure the sugar used by The Coca Cola Company is produced with minimal adverse social and environmental impacts. To that end, WWF is studying the impacts of sugarcane production and processing on the environment in northeast Thailand.
WWF Thailand
Saturday 23 -
Tanzania: Farmers Boycott Threatens Babati’s Sugar Factory’s Plans
A newly established sugar processing factory in Babati is facing hitches as local sugarcane farmers are refusing to supply raw materials to the firm.
Arusha Times (Arusha)
Monday 18 -
Biofuel blight threatens spectacular Kenyan wetland
Biofuel blight threatens spectacular Kenyan wetland
RSPB
Saturday 16 -
flourishing wetland on Kenya’s northern coast is under serious threat from plans to grow vast amounts of sugarcane, partly for biofuel production. Developers want to transform nearly 20,000 hectares of the spectacular Tana River Delta, into sugarcane plantations with other parts of the Delta earmarked for rice.
NatureKenya
Thursday 14 -
Dominican sugar tycoons knock films critical of trade
ORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Dominican sugar industry is striking back at two documentaries that depict Haitian cane-cutters working in dangerous conditions for little pay in the Dominican Republic.
Associated Press
Saturday 9 -
US aid to fight Philippine child labor in sugarcane
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The United States said Wednesday it would provide $5.5 million to the Philippines to help combat the use of child labor.
Associated Press
Wednesday 6 -
Ethanol BRAZIL: Land Shortage Provokes Murders of Indigenous Guaranis People
At least 76 indigenous people were murdered in Brazil in 2007, 58 percent more than in 2006. The killings increased the most in the west-central state of Mato Grosso do Sul, where the Guaraní people are confined to territories too small for them to maintain their traditional way of life.
Galdu
Wednesday 6 -
US aid to tackle child labour in Philippines in sugarcane
MANILA (AFP) - The United States is to donate 5.5 million dollars to fight child labour in the Philippines, the US embassy said Wednesday.
AFP
Friday 1 -
USA - Dominican Republic : Fundraiser will benefit sugar cane workers
MOORESTOWN — Todd Moreland says his mission is to help one family at a time.
Burlington County Times
Wednesday 30 -
Guyana : Sugar workers still off the job after massacre protest
The police rank and six sugar workers who suffered pellet wounds following Monday's fiery protest at Bath Settlement have all been discharged from hospital but harvesters are demanding that charges be dropped against those who were arrested before they resume work.
Stabroek News
Tuesday 29 -
Review: Deadly Brew, the Human Toll of Ethanol
saw the Bloomberg documentary Deadly Brew, the Human Toll of Ethanol, which aired last Thursday and I have to agree with some of the criticisms that UNICA levels at the film.
AutoblogGreen
Monday 28 -
Bloomberg TV : Deadly Brew - The Human Toll of Ethanol
Bloomberg TV : Deadly Brew - The Human Toll of Ethanol
Monday 28 -
Brazilian law proposal would make mechanised sugarcane harvesting obligatory
Brazilian MP Fernando de Fabinho (Democrat for the state of Bahia) has introduced a law proposal that aims to phase out manual sugarcane harvesting within ten years and that ensures stricter evaluation and penalisation procedures for companies that still set fire to their plantations (which is needed for manual harvesting).
EthanolBlog
Wednesday 23 -
UN Warns of Biofuels’ Environmental Risk
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The world's rush to embrace biofuels is causing a spike in the price of corn and other crops and could worsen water shortages and force poor communities off their land, a U.N. official said Wednesday.
WTOP
Tuesday 22 -
Uganda: Madhvani Investment in North Good for the People
Kakira Sugar Works have been given an opportunity to respond to Richard Todwong's interesting and sensitive article on the issues of the proposed sugar investment in Acholi.
New Vision
Tuesday 22 -
Europe, Cutting Biofuel Subsidies, Redirects Aid to Stress Greenest Options
Governments in Europe and elsewhere have begun rolling back generous, across-the-board subsidies for biofuels, acknowledging that the environmental benefits of these fuels have often been overstated.
The NY Times
Monday 21 -
Wageningen expert: "Brazilian ethanol not causing deforestation"
Ethanol production in Brazil is not causing deforestation in the Amazon region, says Peter Zuurbier, Associate Professor and Director the Latin America Office of Wageningen University, the world's leading center of expertise on tropical agriculture.
Ethanol Statistics
Monday 21 -
Africa does not exist - moving on to new lands
On the basis of what has happened over the past year in the bioenergy and biofuels debate, Biopact concludes that to many European organisations Africa does simply not exist. We regret this, because last time we checked, the continent did exist. We have been there. Sub-Saharan Africa is a continent with great potential, but in urgent need of concrete opportunities to develop.
Biopact
Monday 21 -
Uganda: SCOUL Reinstates 50 Workers
THE Sugar Corporation of Uganda (SCOUL) has reinstates 50 workers who had been fired for taking part in a violent strike over poor remunerations last year.
New Vision
Sunday 20 -
Researchers: Africa, lack of farming opportunities, Western subsidies key causes of conflict in third world
Researchers from the University of Ghent and the from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), have come to some highly counter-intuitive findings about environmentalism, agriculture and the key drivers of conflict and social instability in the third world.
Monday 14 -
Afar nomad issue : India gives Ethiopia $640 mn credit for sugar industry
ADDIS ABABA: India has agreed to give Ethiopia a $640 million credit out of a total $1.3 billion needed to boost Ethiopia's sugar production, officials from the two countries said on Monday.
Reuters
Saturday 12 -
Brazil: Another victim in the Guarani-Kaiowá’s struggle for land - sugarcane
Kuretê Lopes, a 69-year-old Guarani-Kaiowá indigenous woman, has become the latest victim of land-related violence which blights the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Kuretê Lopes died when she was shot in the chest by a private security guard during an eviction from farm lands that the Guarani-Kaiowá claim as ancestral.
Amnesty International USA
Thursday 10 -
Is Ethanol for Everybody?
Near what remains of the first sugar factory in Brazil, built in 1877 with a sign in Latin over the entrance that translates as “Sweet is the Reward of Work,” Danuza Gomes da Silva swings a glinting knife as she makes her way down the length of a field cutting cane.
The New York Times
Wednesday 9 -
Africa: Subsidy Cuts Boost Continent’s Sugar Producers
THE European Union agriculture ministers have recently agreed to cut the prices offered to European sugar farmers by 36%, bringing the European Union sugar rules into line with global frameworks.
New Vision (Kampala)
Monday 7 -
Brazil Govt Tightens Tax Rules On Ethanol Producers.
Brazil's federal government is tightening the rules on ethanol producers for the PIS/Cofins social security tax, daily financial newspaper Gazeta Mercantil reported Monday.
Dow Jones
Friday 4 -
Sangur sugar factory workers’ agitation ends with their arrest
HUBLI: The 66-day-old dharna staged by women relatives of workers of the Karnataka Cooperative Sugar Factory (KCSF), Sangur, on the Deputy Commissioner’s office premises in Haveri, ended on Wednesday evening with the arrest of all the protesters.
The Hindu
Wednesday 2 -
São Paulo searching for cleaner ethanol through mechanization
Marcos Jank, president of the Sugarcane Union Industry (Unica) in Brazil recently said that, "We're ready to discuss an environmental, social and economic certification of ethanol."
Autoblogreen
Thursday 20 -
Rules of origin in the sugar value chain are problematic in Caribbean
Guyana is not going to agree to the European Union's contention that this country's sugar products, or those originating in one Cariforum country and processed or refined in another, are not eligible for preferences in Europe under the rules of origin.
Stabroeknews
Friday 14 -
Women here in St. Kitts and Nevis, have engaged in a project entitled “Livelihood creation for women made redundant by the closure of the sugar industry.”
A number of women here in St. Kitts and Nevis, have engaged in a project entitled “Livelihood creation for women made redundant by the closure of the sugar industry.”
von radio vox
Tuesday 11 -
Botswana: Sugar Cane Versus Forest Reserve And Tourism
Our government wisely wishes to diversify the economy. A carrot is dangled by underscoring job opportunities - more than 3000 jobs at a minimum wage of P600 per month - by cultivating 10,000 hectares of sugar cane and harnessing the water of the Zambesi River.
The voice
Monday 10 -
India : Three die due to asphyxia at sugar factory in Sangli
India : Three die due to asphyxia at sugar factory in Sangli
Web India
Sunday 9 -
India : One killed, seven seriously injured in sugar factory
50-year-old man was killed on the spot and seven others seriously injured when a giant steel plate fell on them in a private sugar plant at Kurumbur near Arantangi in Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu today.
WebIndia
Monday 3 -
Anthropologist’s book analyzes impact of globalization on sugar cane workers
They live in primitive barracks and earn a pittance, toiling for hours in the blistering heat as sugar cane cutters in the Dominican Republic
Uconn Advance
Tuesday 20 -
Uganda - Workers burn sugarcane plantations
Uganda - Workers burn sugarcane plantations
The New vision
Thursday 15 - Highlights and News-Workers’ Struggles in Iran
Highlights and News-Workers’ Struggles in Iran
Highlights and News-Workers’ Struggles in Iran
Wednesday 31 -
Sugarcane workers’ representatives are released on bail - Triniada & tobago
Sugarcane workers’ representatives are released on bail - Triniada & tobago
Trinidad & tobago express
Wednesday 31 -
The Afars Pastoralists of Ethiopia at the Gun Points!
The Afar people happen to inhabit in area with great strategic significance in the Horn of Africa. The Afar case has not been mentioned anywhere concerning human right violation, internal displacements and the livelihood related challenges they face due to board conflicts.
Mahder
Tuesday 23 -
Jodie Foster’s movie "sugarland"
A recent law school graduate teams with an experienced public-interest attorney to take on a sugar baron on behalf of exploited migrant workers.
Wednesday 17 -
Lula promotes biofuels in Africa
Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva has urged African countries to take up the use of biofuels as a way of improving their economic independence.
BBC World
Tuesday 2 -
BATATAIS, Brazil — As dawn cracks over seemingly endless fields of sugar cane, a ragged army of men and women sharpens machetes to harvest the raw material for Brazil’s "white gold."
With machinelike precision, the cane cutters gather five 8-feet-tall stalks in the crook of one arm, bend over and cut them down with three swift machete whacks — a process they will repeat over and over again for as long as 12 hours a day.
Monday 1 -
Brazil’s sugar cane cutters pay the cost of cleaner fuel
Brazil's sugar cane cutters pay the cost of cleaner fuel
International Herald Tribune - Blomberg news
Tuesday 28 -
Demand for biofuels is driving the destruction of Brazil’s cerrado
Demand for biofuels is driving the destruction of Brazil's cerrado
news.mongabay.com
Friday 24 -
Brazil, President Lula and Sugar-Cane Ethanol
The possible elimination of a 54 cents-per-gallon tariff on imports of Brazilian ethanol to the U.S. has become a vital issue in Brasilia due to the country’s potential economic, environmental, and social repercussions.
Scoop
Tuesday 31 -
HSBC loaned cash to company accused of slave-like conditions
HSBC loaned cash to company accused of slave-like conditions
The Guardian
Monday 30 -
Brazil : HSBC loaned cash to company accused of slave-like conditions
Brazil : HSBC loaned cash to company accused of slave-like conditions
Guardian
Friday 6 -
EU joins call for global biofuel market with strict regulations
EU joins call for global biofuel market with strict regulations
The Guardian
Thursday 5 -
For sugar-mill workers in Nicaragua, a deadly mystery
LA ISLA, Nicaragua – Ursula Tobal knows the names of almost all the 20 widows who live on this tiny islet between two narrow streams, and almost all the orphaned children who play in the dusty fields.
Brad Brace
Wednesday 4 -
Sugar : Ethiopian Govt endangers Afar pastoralists ecosystem
Half Million Afar Pastoralists Risk Displacement and Environmental Disaster In the Awash Valley of Ethiopia!
Sudan Tribune
Friday 22 -
ADM Plans Entry Into Sugar-Cane Ethanol in Brazil
Archer-Daniels-Midland Co., the U.S.'s largest ethanol producer, is preparing to enter the sugar-cane-ethanol business in Brazil, company executives say. Such a move by the grain and ethanol giant would mark an endorsement of a gasoline substitute that competes directly with the corn-based approach used by U.S. ethanol companies.
Wall street Jornal
Thursday 21 -
Brazil, Dominican Republic seal biofuel pact, bolster trade ties.
Brazil’s president Luiz Lula Da Silva said his friendship with Dominican leader Leonel Fernandez, with whom he said shares common ideals, and "his visit consolidates the association that we are constructing in Latin America for more just societies, for rights to nourishment, right to the quality education and democratic values."
Wednesday 20 -
Zambia: Conciliation Talks Fail in Zambia Sugar Negotiations
A meeting on 16 June with the board of conciliators failed to resolve any of the outstanding issues under negotiation between the National Union of Plantation and Agricultural Workers (NUPAW) and Zambia Sugar, said Mailoni Kabuyali, NUPAW general secretary, in an interview with The Sugar Worker.
IUF
Tuesday 19 -
Brazil: Cane Cutters Strike in Sao Paulo
Cane cutters working in six factories went on strike around 13 June to support their demands for an increase in the basic wage for the category, improved working conditions, changes to the system of payments, and to end outsourcing practices by employers. Workers returned to work on 18 June, according to sources with Feraesp, the São Paulo federation of rural workers.
IUF
Monday 18 -
Pakistan: Sugar Workers Convention Condemns Contract System
A convention of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Workers (PSMW) condemned categorically the contract and daily wage system practiced by millers, which contravenes national labour laws and decisions by the judiciary.
IUF
Thursday 7 -
U.S. & BRAZILIAN ETHANOL COMPARISON
The feedstock for Brazilian ethanol is sugarcane. The Brazilian government has invested in research designed to improve sugarcane varieties that have resulted in sugarcane that is more resistant to drought and pests and yields higher sugar content. During the last 30 years, sugarcane yields have increased three-fold.
Cattle Network.com
Sugar Cane Cutters or Indebted Slaves
Brazil is a well known, large user of sugar-cane based ethanol; 80% of all new cars sold in Brazil are "flex-fuel" models that run on gasoline, ethanol or any combination of the two. Ethanol currently sells for about half the price of gasoline, gasoline that is very inexpensive accounts for as much as 20% of Brazil's transport fuel market. Increasing international demand and billions of financial dollars has resulted in Brazil becoming a major exporter of ethanol.
E85
Sunday 27 -
Plantation Workers Look for Justice in the North
CHINANDEGA, Nicaragua - The people crammed into the stifling basketball gym. They filled the court, lined the walls and tumbled beyond the doors onto the sun-blistered streets.
Los angels times - comondreams
Wednesday 23 -
Human Rights Abuses: Sugarcane famers dying of Chronic Renal Failure in Nicaragua
Memorandum International Justice Mission
Tuesday 22 -
TWO HANDY BOOKS ANSWER FAQs ON BRAZILIAN ETHANOL.
UNICA the São Paulo Sugarcane Agroindustry Union, has produced two handy books answering some common questions about Brazil's sugarcane and ethanol industry. The publications are made available to larger audiences in the context of the upcoming Ethanol Summit 2007, to be held in São Paulo early next month.
Sao Paulo Ethanol Summit 2007
Wednesday 16 -
Brazil and Senegal sign biofuel agreement
BRASILIA, Brazil: The presidents of Brazil and Senegal on Wednesday signed an agreement opening the way for the production and use of biofuels in Senegal and in the rest of Africa.
International Herald Tribune
Tuesday 15 -
BETTER ENVIRO FOR BRAZIL CANE CUTTERS.
Brazil will push to improve working conditions for sugarcane cutters who harvest most of the cane that is turned into ethanol for the nation's booming biofuel industry, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday.
Associated Press
Monday 14 -
Nicaragua: mystery illness strikes sugar mill workers
According to government figures, nearly 2,000 current and former employees of two sugar mills in the Chichigalpa region of northwestern Nicaragua suffer from chronic renal insufficiency (CRI), a fatal kidney disease. While the cause remains a mystery, a workers group puts the death toll at more than 560 employees of one of the mills alone over the past 30 years. Residents point to the chemicals used in sugar-cane fields at the San Antonio and Monte Rosa mills, which produce most of Nicaragua's sugar exported to the US. The mills deny responsibity, and say workers who sued the companies presented no scientific evidence.
War 4 report
Saturday 5 -
GEORGETOWN, Guyana: A two-member delegation from the European Union (EU) is in Guyana to identify possible areas where the EU may be able to support the country’s biofuel plans, which have gained momentum over the last few weeks.
Bernard Duhamel and Jean Raux, two experts from France, met with Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud on Wednesday to discuss the core elements of Guyana’s biofuel plans. Persaud told the two EU officials that Guyana prefers to look at sugarcane production for ethanol and utilise coconut as a potential for biodiesel.
By Gordon French Caribbean Net News Guyana Correspondent
Friday 27 -
Ethanol drive will increase Caribbean food prices
The popularity of bio-fuels, more particularly ethanol, has led to an increase in corn prices which, in turn, has caused a spike in US food prices. With the Caribbean importing most of its food from the United States, this will result in a substantial rise in the region's food bill and, as a consequence, an increase in inflation.
Jamaican Observer
Monday 23 -
South Africa: Biofuels vs Food Crops?
South Africa: Biofuels vs Food Crops?
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
Monday 9 -
Brazilian Indians Reoccupy Area Invaded by Sugar Cane Farmers
Tired of waiting for the demarcation of their lands, the Potiguara Indians, in the municipality of Rio Tinto, in the Brazilian northeastern state of Paraíba, repossessed part of their land, which had been invaded by a sugar cane mill. The area used to be occupied by the Rafaela Ranch.
Brazzil Mag
Monday 2 -
US/Brazil biofuel plans may have severe repercussions on millions of rural poor, the anti-poverty agency, ActionAid, warned today.
This Saturday, Presidents George Bush and Lula Da Silva will meet in Camp David to continue discussions on increasing ethanol production and trade. Under proposed plans, the fuel would be derived primarily from Brazilian sugarcane sources.
Checkbiotech.org
Friday 23 -
Brazilian Joint Venture Between Santa Elisa and Global Foods Holding
Sertãozinho, Sao Paulo State, Brazil - Companhia Nacional de Açucar e Álcool (“CNAA”), a joint venture between founding shareholders Santa Elisa and Global Foods Holding, has closed a US $240 million private equity placement with an investor consortium led by the Carlyle/Riverstone Renewable Energy Infrastructure Fund. ING Bank in Sao Paolo acted as advisor in the transaction. Riverstone committed US $187 million of the total $240 million round.
Intern
Friday 16 -
Slavery Fears Weigh in Brazil Veto
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva vetoed a measure Friday that activists feared could worsen the plight of debt slaves in Latin America's largest nation.
The Economist - All Associated Press
Friday 9 -
Kenya - Sugar scam stirs slush fund fears
A public spat over when 200 000 tons of duty-free sugar should be imported from the Common Market for East and Southern African (Comesa) bloc to forestall a sugar shortage in Kenya has exposed potential economic sabotage by members of the ruling party.
Kenya - Mail & Guardian On line
Friday 9 -
Brazil’s ethanol slaves: 200,000 migrant sugar cutters who prop up renewable energy boom
Behind rusty gates, the heart of Brazil's energy revolution can be found in the stale air of a squalid red-brick tenement building. Inside, dozens of road-weary migrant workers are crammed into minuscule cubicles, filled with rickety bunk-beds and unpacked bags, preparing for their first day at work in the sugar plantations of Sao Paulo.
The guardian
Friday 9 -
Brazil Accused of Getting Biofuel with Slave Labor
Producing fuels from sugarcane, castor bean, and soybeans - the so-called biofuels - is being proposed as an economic alternative for small farmers and as an alternative to burning fossil fuels, which are expensive and pollute the environment.
Written by Newsroom
Friday 9 -
’Disastrous for the Poor’ Warning on Biofuels
Increasing the production of bio-fuels would have a disastrous impact on poor communities in Latin America, according to anti-poverty agency ActionAid.
Actionaid UK
Tuesday 6 -
Brazil’s Ethanol Plan Breeds Rural Poverty, Environmental Degradation
On Jan. 22 the Lula administration announced it will increase federal funding for Brazil's sugar-based ethanol industry by almost US$6 billion over the next four years. One day later, U.S. President George W. Bush declared in the State of the Union address his goal to reduce U.S. use of gasoline 20% by the year 2017.
Americas Program, International Relations Center (IRC)
Tuesday 6 -
Brazil’s Ethanol Plan Breeds Rural Poverty, Environmental Degradation
Brazil's Ethanol Plan Breeds Rural Poverty, Environmental Degradation
Global Research
Saturday 3 -
Sugar sector gets $454m First allocation from EU to compensate for price fallout
THE European Union yesterday signed a J$454-million (euro5.218-million) financing agreement with the Jamaican government as part of a seven-year assistance to the ailing local sugar industry.
The Jamaica Observer
Saturday 3 -
U.S. and Brazil Seek to Promote Ethanol in West
WASHINGTON, March 2 — President Bush, hoping to reduce demand for oil in the Western Hemisphere, is preparing to finish an agreement with Brazil next week to promote the production and use of ethanol throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, according to administration officials.
The New York Times
Friday 2 -
Jamaica, Brazil sign sugar, ethanol pact
Jamaica and Brazil have signed two agreements under which the South American nation will assist with the modernisation of the local sugar industry, help Jamaica develop ethanol, and provide technical co-operation in tropical fruit processing.
The Jamaica Observer
Thursday 1 -
High production costs to drive sugar revenue down, says Clarke
Roger Clarke has conceded that Government-owned sugar factories would lose between US five and eight cents per pound on exported sugar this year, due to high production costs.
The Jamaica observer
Monday 26 -
Ethanol : The Brazilian Revolution ?
Arte Television
Friday 23 -
Jamaica & Brazil sign sugar-ethanol pacts
Jamaica and Brazil have signed two agreements under which the South American nation will assist with the modernisation of the local sugar industry, help Jamaica develop ethanol, and provide technical co-operation in tropical fruit processing.
Haitiwebs
Thursday 8 -
Ethanol Production Could Be Eco-Disaster, Brazil’s Critics Say
In Brazil ethanol has become economically competitive with gasoline, and the country's biofuels program could serve as a world model for producing sustainable energy, officials say.
National geographic News
Wednesday 7 -
First sugar shipment off to London from Jamaica
The country's first shipment of sugar since the start of the 2006/2007 crop, consisting of 21,000 tonnes and valued at US$12 million, left the island on Monday for London as part of the country's sugar export arrangement with the European Union.
The Jamaica Observer
Saturday 3 -
Largest Dominican sugar groups to promote ethanol plants
Santo Domingo.- An innovative project to produce ethanol in the country has been started by executives of the Central Roman Corporation and the Vicini Group, installing processing plants that will use Dominican sugar cane as raw material.
Dominican Today
Friday 2 -
Ethanol fuels hope for Caribbean sugar
GUERRA, Dominican Republic - After declining for years, the Caribbean sugar industry is suddenly looking sweet again as a source of ethanol — the alternative fuel that some see as an answer to sky-high oil prices.
Miami Herald
Saturday 27 -
Afar nomad issue : Tendaho Sugar Needs More Time to Pay Debt to Shell, Court Rules
Shell Ethiopia will have to wait to recover nearly half a million in debt owed to it by the Tendaho Sugar Factory, a court determined. The factory, which is still under construction, still has no assets or cash at its disposition to settle the debt for oil and lubricants supplied.
Addis Fortune
Wednesday 24 -
Hamaty calls for ’Cane Fires Prevention Act’
FROME, Westmoreland - Fred Hamaty, a former People's National Party (PNP) senator, is recommending that government enact a 'Cane Fires Prevention Act' in a bid to stamp out the illicit burning of cane.
The Jamaicain Observer
Sunday 21 -
Jamaica : Turning up the heat on arsonists
FROME, Westmoreland - In apparent desperation, the Government says it will, this week, unleash the army and the police on arsonists who are being blamed for $350 million worth of illicit cane fires in the Westmoreland sugar belt last year.
The Jamaica Observer
Wednesday 17 -
Zambia sugar firm plans major expansion
LUSAKA - Zambia Sugar Plc plans to raise sugar output by almost 70 per cent to 440 000 tonnes by 2011 to meet rising local demand and also for export, the company said yesterday.
Reuter - Namibian Market place
Wednesday 17 -
Biofuels, promises and pitfalls
The Biofuels Act of 2006 (Republic Act 9367) was formally signed into law Wednesday during a ceremony at the presidential Palace befitting a landmark piece of legislation.
The manila Times
Monday 18 -
Domincian Republic: Is sugar production modern day slavery?
Is the sugar you eat a product of slave labor? That's the accusation leveled by one of the readers of this blog, who pointed us to the Dominican Republic, where, she said, Haitian migrant workers are kept in slave camps, forced to work in the fields under armed guard, for a pittance.
CNN - Anderson cooper
Monday 18 -
Nigeria: U.S. Firm to Build $50 Million Ethanol Plant in Taraba
A United States based company, Lemna International, said it plans to establish a $50million (about N6.3billion) ethanol production plant in Taraba state within the next four months.
Daily Trust (Abuja)
Monday 18 -
Lacassine ethanol plant may be ’salvation of Louisiana agriculture’
LACASSINE - "Ethanol could be the salvation of Louisiana agriculture," says Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom. He and others are hoping the future begins here.
The daily advertiser
Friday 8 -
Dominican Republic : The plight of the cane-cutters
Thursday 7 -
Kenya: Mumias Sugar Firm Project Censured
Kenya risks violating an international convention if it allows a regional authority and a sugar company to establish a factory in the Tana Delta.
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
Thursday 7 -
Kenya: Mumias Sugar Firm Project Censured
Kenya risks violating an international convention if it allows a regional authority and a sugar company to establish a factory in the Tana Delta.
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
Wednesday 22 -
International Sugar Organisation - Annual meeting 2006
“World sugar and ethanol -new cards, new game...”
"World sugar and ethanol - new cards, new game…"
The world sugar economy is like a kaleidoscope: permanently and significantly changing features and shapes reflecting its tremendous diversity and dense complexity. This year’s seminar tries to embrace the hot issues and demanding challenges the world sugar industry is facing in a rapidly transforming and more and more globalized, competitive environment.
Monday 20 -
Kenya: Tana Residents Protest Against Proposed Factory
Thousands of Tana River residents held a demonstration at Garsen to protest against Tana and Athi River Development Authority (Tarda) and Mumias Sugar Company's plans to establish a sugar factory in the area.
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
Tuesday 14 -
Kenana Sugar Company...Continuous Success
Sudan is ranked second in the African continent following South Africa in sugar production. That is because Sudan has great potentials in this regard, which include natural resources and competent human cadres.
United Press International
Tuesday 7 -
BSR 2006 Conference: Innovative Strategies - Measurable Impacts
BSR 2006 Conference: Innovative Strategies - Measurable Impacts
Wednesday 1 -
Biofuel neocolonialism?
On Oct. 31, Energy Bulletin published the text of a letter to the Conference of the Parties of the Framework Convention on Climate Change decrying the risks of biofuels. Calling biofuels "a disaster in the making," the signatories to the letter, who include the Global Forest Coalition and a host of other NGOs, asked the conference to "immediately suspend all subsidies and other forms of inequitable support for the import and export of biofuels."
salon.com - Andrew Leonard
Monday 30 -
Uganda : Kinyara workers to retain their jobs
ALL employees of Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd will retain their jobs as the new management takes over the sugar factory.
The Monitor
Monday 30 -
Kenya to build new $300m sugar factory
Kenya will open a new sugar factory in 2006 at a cost of $300-million with the backing of a Swiss bank to mill a fast-growing cane variety, investors and officials said yesterday.
Monday 30 -
Uganda: Kinyara Workers to Retain Their Jobs
ALL employees of Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd will retain their jobs as the new management takes over the sugar factory.
The Monitor (Kampala)
Thursday 26 -
Thousands of Guyanese sugar workers on strike
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Thousands of workers on Guyana's sugar cane estates were on strike for a second day yesterday to press the state-owned industry for pay increases, a union leader said.
Jamaica Observer
Thursday 26 -
Uganda: SCOUL Can Look Elsewhere for Sugarcane Plantation!
THE debate started by President Yoweri Museveni to degazett part of Mabira forest to SCOUL to boost sugar production, investment, jobs, and tax revenue should not be rested until consensus based on valid facts is reached.
New Vision (Kampala)
Tuesday 24 -
Dutch import of biomass, producing countries’ points of view on the sustainability of biomass exports
Biomass is rapidly becoming an important source for energy generation and bio fuel worldwide. Many studies indicate that the regions with the highest potential to produce and export bio energy are notably d in developing countries.
Dutch NGO’s
Monday 9 -
Resume of the brazilian seminar on social and environmental issues - São Paulo - 30 & 31 May 06
Outcome of the 30 &31st May Brazilian seminar at the initiative of Ethical Sugar on social and environmental issues with a sustentable development dynamic.
Outcome of the 30 &31st May 06 Brazilian seminar : Issues and challenges facing the Brazilian sugar & ethanol industry of the 21st Century
Thursday 5 -
Can biofuels become the next petroleum?
From Rio de Janeiro to Amsterdam, biofuels are all the rage but can "green fuel" take on oil to become a long-term viable alternative to fossil fuels?
AMSTERDAM (Reuters)- By Anna Mudeva
Friday 29 -
Uganda - Kabuye Sugar Works; success in privatisation
From a bushy factory area to a now sprawling sugar factory, producing 150 tonnes of sugar per day, Kabuye Sugar Works is perhaps the best example of a successful privatisation process.
Daily monitor - By Muhereza Kyamutetera
Saturday 23 -
Uganda: Makerere Protests Mabira Sale
Students from Makerere University Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation yesterday took to the streets protesting the planned sale of Mabira Forest to an investor.
The Monitor (Kampala)
Friday 22 -
Jamaicans pull out of joint venture with Brazilians
The All Island Jamaica Cane Farmers Association (AIJCFA) has pulled out of a partnership with Brazil-based sugar company Aracatu in its bid to purchase the cash-strapped Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ), which has been put up for sale by the government.
Jamaica Observer
Thursday 14 -
Biofuels industry has potential to produce 10% of SA’s diesel by 2010
Compared to their oil-business counterparts in the likes of Saudi Arabia, South Africa’s new energy ‘sheiks’ lead fairly ordinary lives.
Mining Weekly - South Africa
Thursday 14 -
CEF signs bioethanol deal with Brazilian giant, Petrobras
South Africa’s State-owned Central Energy Fund (CEF) has signed a memorandum of under- standing with Brazilian petrochemicals giant Petrobras to conduct a feasibility study concerning the introduction of bioethanol in South Africa.
Mining Weekly - South Africa
Monday 11 -
Uganda: The Facts On the Sugar Industry in Uganda
As far as we know, there is no "recent report released by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) which shows that Uganda produces a meagre eight tonnes per hectare of sugar (?) as opposed to Malawi's 80 tonnes per hectare".
New Vision - Uganda
Saturday 9 -
The Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (Scoul) which wants part of Mabira Forest reserve
New Vision
Saturday 9 -
Development bank pushes for renewable energy investment in Caribbean
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - The president of the Inter-American Development Bank yesterday invited investors to apply for grants to develop renewable energy projects in the Caribbean, announcing a US$20 million (euro15.73 million) fund.
Jamaica Observer
Tuesday 5 -
Nigeria to Use Brazilian Blueprint to Found its New Biofuels Industry
Ethanol Producer Magazine - By Marianne Osterkorn
Tuesday 5 -
Dominican sugar mill : A new ethanol plant in with funds from the Swiss government.
Santo Domingo.- The government announced today that a ethanol fuel production plant will be installed for an initial cost of 30 million dollars, in the Boca Chica sugar field.
The Dominican Today
Monday 28 -
Nigeria: Ebonyi to Build N10.4 Billion Ethanol Plant
Ebonyi State Government has joined the rank of states in Nigeria seeking alternative energy sources, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, (MOU), with a Chinese-supported Nigeria firm to establish a $80m(N10.4bn) Ethanol producing factory that would utilize Cassava and Sugar cane as major raw materials.
This Day (Lagos)
Monday 28 -
SA SHOULD build an additional five sugar mills in order to stimulate ethanol production
SA SHOULD build an additional five sugar mills in order to stimulate ethanol production, a representative of Brazilian sugar and ethanol equipment group Dedini said on Friday.
Business Day (Johannesburg)
Sunday 27 -
Ethiopia: Ministry Expediting Construction of Tendaho, Kessem Irrigation Dams
The Ministry of Water Resources announced that 35 per cent of the works on Tendaho and Kessem irrigation dams have been completed.
The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)
Saturday 26 -
IFC Funds Study on Renewable Energy and Biofuels in the Philippines
Research into the development of renewable energy and biofuels in the Philippines is under way with the Private Enterprise Partnership (PEP) for the Philippines currently accepting proposals from local and foreign consultants to undertake the study. This is made possible by funding from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group.
"We feel it is the right time to do this study, given the interest and growing awareness from all sectors about cleaner sources of energy, especially for the transport sector."
— Euan Marshall, Private Enterprise Partnership-Philippines, Country Coordinator
Wednesday 23 -
Uganda: Reconsider Mabira Forest Proposal
THE Sugar Corporation of Uganda wants to take 25 per cent of Mabira Forest to plant more sugar cane.
New vision - Uganda
Monday 21 -
Tropical sugar beet trials show promise
North Queensland farmers in drier areas could soon be growing tropical sugar beet.
ABC Rural - Australia
Friday 18 -
Trinidad and Tobago - EX SUGAR WORKERS MARCH FOR JUSTICE
The All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade Union is calling upon all ex-employees of Caroni(1975) Limited to join with the
Today the march will begin from Mon Repos to Couva.Tomorrow they will walk from Couva to Charlieville and on Friday they are scheduled to walk from Charlieville to Port-of-Spain, Woodford Square, where all the marchers will gather for a meeting.
The union is joining the walk because the Government has failed to honour its commitment regarding the land distribution process and also giving funds to the daily paid contributory pension plan.
Civil Rights Association (TTCRA) and its President Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, in the “March for Justice for All” from Cedros to Port-of-Spain.The march is for justice to workers, farmers, vendors, land tenants and occupiers of state lands and began on Friday August 11th and ends on August 18th 2006.
Friday 18 -
Uganda Forestry Association against changing the land use of Mabira to a sugar cane plantation.
OFFICIALS from forestry, National Environment Management Authority and the National Water and Environment are united in protesting the sale of part of Mabira Forest Reserve to Scoul.
The Monitor
Wednesday 16 -
Uganda: Kinyara Take-Over Won’t Affect Workers says Minister
WORKERS of Kinyara Sugar Works (KSWL) will not be affected by the take-over by Rai Holdings, privatisation state minister Lukia Chekamondo has said.
Uganda - New Vision
Wednesday 16 -
Indonesia is seeking more investment in industries producing energy
Indonesia is seeking more investment in industries producing energy from palm oil, sugar cane and jatropha to help create five million new jobs and cut government fuel subsidies, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Wednesday.
Bloomberg News, Reuters
Monday 14 -
AN environmentalist has warned that the rest of Mabira Forest will be degraded.
AN environmentalist has warned that the rest of Mabira Forest will be degraded if part of it is turned into a sugarcane plantation.
Uganda - The Monitor
Thursday 10 -
Kenya - Kinyara workers resume work after 3-day strike
KINYARA Sugar Works Ltd workers have resumed work after calling off a three-day strike that had paralysed work. The sugar factory workers laid down their tools and were demanding that TSB/Bookertate releases the provident fund money, which it had been deducting from their salaries.
ouganda - Sunday Monitor
Tuesday 8 -
In terms construction of houses and the water reservoir.
The progress at Tendaho Sugar Development Project in the Afar Regional State has suffered a serious drawback, missing the critical month of July 2006, a rainy season that was planned to give the project its highest water catchments.
Ethiopia - Addis Fortune
Monday 7 -
Nigeria: Ethanol As Alternative Fuel
As part of its last minute pet project, the federal government recently announced a decision to start the development of ethanol as alternative fuel. That decision comes along with the research on nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The two projects are good.
Nigeria - Daily trust
Saturday 5 -
the industry would face severe difficulties after entering the WTO
The Vietnam Sugar and Sugar Cane Association warned that the industry would face severe difficulties after entering the WTO due to low capacity output.
Viet nam - Thanhnien news
Wednesday 2 -
FEATURE - South African Farmers Clean Up with "Green Sugar"
ESHOWE - From the air, sections of South Africa's sugar country resemble a vast green carpet that has been gently rolled across the landscape.
South Africa - Planet Ark
Saturday 29 -
the president of Senegal’s own words about the new African biofuels association
We would like to present the president of Senegal's own words about the new African biofuels association that he announced yesterday in Dakar. Just for the record. The Agence de presse Senegalaise (APS) quotes Mr Abdoulaye Wade as saying:
Agence de presse Senegalaise
Thursday 27 -
One of the three sugar mills in Ethiopia, Metehara Sugar Factory, has hired a South African company
PGBI Engineering and Constructors, to conduct a study on how to expand its capacity of processing sugarcanes. The factory signed a 7.4 million Br contract with the company two weeks ago; the job has already begun, company officials disclosed.
Ethiopia - Addis Fortune
Monday 24 - Poor working conditions on Uganda’s sugar plantations
The workers, some of whom are from Tanzania, say that they have not gone home for many years because they haven’t managed to save money for transport.
The workers say they are paid little money, so they cannot provide for basic needs and also save.
Kampala (AND) Sugar cane plantation workers in Sango Bay, Kakuto, in Rakai district are threatening to strike because of poor working conditions.
Friday 21 -
A UK-based firm plans to buy majority stake in Illovo — the parent company of Kilombero Sugar — for 317 million pounds (about 668.8bn/-), it was learnt in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
The firm, Associated British Foods (ABF), is an international food, ingredients and retail group with extensive network in Britain, United States and other 41 countries with an annual turnover of 5.6 billion pounds.
Daily News - South Africa
Friday 21 -
The Tana and Athi Rivers Development Authority (Tarda) and the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) are locked in a tussle over a proposed Sh24 billion sugar project.
The project, which has been the subject of controversy since it was mooted several years ago, is to begin at the end of September, according to Tarda.
The Nation (Nairobi)
Wednesday 19 -
Nicaragua : Deadly wages
Are Nicaragua's sugar cane workers, who pick sugar that makes its way to the United States, being poisoned by their employer?
World Magazine
Tuesday 18 - Central Africa sugar firms invest $180 mln for growth
Sugar companies in central Africa’s six-nation CFA franc zone plan to invest some $180 million over the next four years to boost production, a leading industry official said on Tuesday
The region's five sugar companies are also working to standardise production practices to ease trade with a view to creating a common regional market in sugar, Samuel Ngoma, commercial delegate for the Groupement des Professionnels du Sucre (GPS) told Reuters.
Central Africa sugar firms invest $180 mln for growth - Reuter
Tuesday 18 - Ethiopia to boost sugar output, seeks investors
Ethiopia announced plans on Wednesday to boost its annual sugar output to 1.0 million tonnes from 280,000 tonnes by 2011, urging foreign investors to help.
The state-owned Ethiopian Sugar Development Agency (ESDA) said it planned to boost sugar production by upgrading existing factories, building new plants and developing land and water resources.
Ethiopia to boost sugar output, seeks investors - Reuter
Monday 10 - Sugar Refineries (ZSR) says its sugar exports declined by 17%
ZIMBABWE Sugar Refineries (ZSR) says its sugar exports declined by 17% while domestic sugar sales slumped by 33% in the year ended March due to insufficient raw sugar supplies.
This comes against the backdrop of government recently taking over Mkwasine Estates under the land reform programme. Mkwasine is the biggest sugarcane producer in the country.
The Zimbabwe Independant - Eric Chiriga - July 10
Friday 7 - Tens of thousands of jobs disappear in Swaziland
Swaziland’s sugar cultivation and processing industry has also been shedding jobs. Sugar is the top export product, and until last year the top export-revenue earner.
Thousands of Swazi workers were laid off in 2005 and several cooperatives failed because of declining profits, after currency appreciation and cheaper Brazilian sugar made the local product uncompetitive internationally.
Mail &Guardina - Mbabane, Swaziland - July 10
Tuesday 20 - Swaziland - USA Distillers to expand ethanol plant - Stories by Mbongiseni Ndzimand
USA Distillers are in a process of expanding their operations following the growing worldwide demand for ethanol.
The expansion involves increasing production and certain modifications given that alternative sources of raw material will be required. This is contained in their proposal statement which further reads that the company must find new sources of raw material.
The Swazi Observer - Stories by Mbongiseni Ndzimand
Tuesday 20 -
The United Nations’ International Labour Organization (ILO) has issued an unambiguous message to the government of Indonesia
The authorities, says the ILO, must take immediate action to rectify illegal anti-union measures taken by private and public sugar employers against the IUF-affiliated FSPM TG, beginning with the immediate reinstatement of the union's illegally dismissed president Daud Sukamto.
IUF website
Thursday 15 - GOVERNMENT’S import bill towards purchase of crude oil would
reduce by 20 per cent if the country embarks on large-scale production of bio-fuel, energy minister Felix Mutati has said.
And Consolidated Farming Services (CFS) managing director Iqbal Alloo has urged the government to put in place measures that would safeguard ethanol production in the event that crude oil prices begins to fall. Speaking on Tuesday when he toured the Consolidated Farming Services plant, where Kafue sugar is produced, Mutati said the government was working on the legal framework to guide production of bio-fuel that could help in mitigating the foreign exchange spent on crude oil.
Thursday 15 - Spanish and Indian investors are competing to invest in a $150 million sugar plantation
Zambia plans to set up this year, a senior official said on Wednesday. Zambia Investments Centre (ZIC) acting director general Chalimba Phiri said a feasibility study had been concluded on the Luena sugar plantation in the north of the country, which will process sugar and by-products such as ethanol.
He said it had also drawn interest from a local business consortium. "We are set to take off with the project this year and it has attracted a Spanish company and some Indian investors who are currently on site checking out many things," Phiri told Reuters in Johannesburg, where he was attending a Zambian investment conference.
News Johannesburg Reuters - South Africa
Saturday 10 - The Zambian government is talking up a new $150 million cane sugar project
The Zambian government is talking up a new $150 million cane sugar project in the north of the country at Luena in the north east of the country
Both Spanish and Indian investors have been mentioned.
SKILL NEWS - Zambia
Saturday 3 - What are Swaziland’s main exports?
SURROUNDED by SA, except for a short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily dependent on this country for its resources and as the buyer of more than half its exports. Marja Tuit spoke to Muntu PN Mswane, High Commissioner of the Kingdom of Swaziland, about the state of his country’s economy.
Sugar and wood pulp remain our most important foreign-exchange earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent years with the depletion of deposits, with only coal and quarry stone mines still active. Sugar is playing an increasingly important role. Raw sugar is exported and then imported back in a different format. One of our main exports is Coca-Cola concentrate. The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Swaziland supplies the whole of Africa.
The Official Line - Swaziland - July 03
Friday 19 -
Business week
Thursday 11 - Workers of closed sugar mill in distress
Family members of approximately 1,250 affected employees of the Dadu Sugar Mills are facing starvation due to its closure since 1998.
Thursday 11 - Punjab govt rejects PAC report on sugar issue
The Punjab government says it is totally unjustified to hold the provincial governments responsible for increase in sugar price.
The Punjab government says it is totally unjustified to hold the provincial governments responsible for increase in sugar price.
Lahore, May 11 - India
Thursday 11 - U.S. Borders Open to Mexican Sugar By 2007
Mexico will end taxation of U.S. sugar Jan. 1, 2007, and the U.S. will open its borders to Mexican sugar a year later, officials said.
Mexico will end taxation of U.S. sugar Jan. 1, 2007, and the U.S. will open its borders to Mexican sugar a year later, officials said.
MiddleWest AG Jornal - USA
Wednesday 10 - Scoul to Sell 3 Megawatts to Umeme
The Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited is set to generate six megawatts of biogas three of which would be used by the factory and the surplus sold to Umeme, the Company’s Chief Executive Manager, S.C. Khan has said.
The Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited is set to generate six megawatts of biogas three of which would be used by the factory and the surplus sold to Umeme, the Company's Chief Executive Manager, S.C. Khan has said.
The Monitor - Kampala - Uganda - John Semakula Mukono
Friday 28 - Kenya: Sugar Industry is Well Protected, House Told
Kenya: Sugar Industry is Well Protected, House Told
The sugar industry is stable and is not about to collapse, the House was told.
Agriculture minister Kipruto Kirwa said contrary to allegations, the industry was on an upward swing.
He enumerated the measures the Government had put in place to protect the local industry, top of which was the implementation of measures allowing the importation of only 200,000 tonnes of sugar from Comesa every year.
Wednesday 26 - America’s Sugar Industry Thanks Congressmen
America’s Sugar Industry Thanks Congressmen
WASHINGTON, D.C.—America’s sugar producers thanked Congressmen Collin Peterson (D-MN.) and Mike Simpson (R-ID) for starting a House Sugar Caucus to help promote and maintain America’s no-cost sugar program in the 2007 Farm Bill.
The Sugar Productors magazine - USA - April 26, 2006
Wednesday 26 - Illovo says Tereos bid talks end, still on with ABF
Illovo says Tereos bid talks end, still on with ABF
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Africa's top sugar producer Illovo said it has ended talks with France's Tereos about a potential bid, but is continuing talks with another suitor, Associated British Foods.
Reuter Agency - South Africa - Wed Apr 26, 2006
Wednesday 26 -
In the face of rising oil prices and growingly volatile trade relations with developing nations, the European Union has established a new set of priorities to bolster its economy, secure its future fuel supplies, support agriculture and curb climate change. Despite Europe’s predisposition toward diesel power, experts say its fledgling ethanol industry is poised for sheer growth-and a fresh EU Biofuels Strategy supports that notion.
By Holly Jessen and Anduin Kirkbride McElroy - Ethanol Producer Magazine - US
Europe’s Bold New Strategy
Tuesday 25 - Imported Sugar is Biggest Threat
Imported Sugar is Biggest Threat
The sugar industry in Uganda is perhaps one of the most viciously competitive. As the players tussle it out in the market place Bamuturaki Musinguzi asks Mr Cyprian Batala Assistant Commissioner for Trade what the government is doing to make Uganda's sweetened industry a leveled playing ground. Excepts below:
The Monitor (Kampala) - April 25, 2006 - Uganda - Interview
Thursday 20 - Tate & Lyle PLC invests in a Sugar plant in Israel
Tate & Lyle PLC invests in a Sugar plant in Israel
Tate & Lyle, the global renewable ingredients company, announced the formation of a joint-venture with an Israeli partner to build and operate a sugar plant in Israel.
HS - Webbolt Newsroom -
Thursday 20 - Qarase confident of sugar board
Qarase confident of sugar board
CARETAKER Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is confident the new board of directors for the Fiji Sugar Corporation will be able to see the restructure of the sugar industry to completion.
Fuji Times - Fuji Islands
Wednesday 19 - Bitter battle over Caribbean sugar
Bitter battle over Caribbean sugar
CARIBBEAN SUGAR hangs in the balance today as trade talks with Europe enter a crucial phase.
Black information Link - Albert Yanney
Tuesday 11 - SWAZILAND: Producing ethanol from sugar will rescue cane growers
Swaziland’s troubled sugar industry is turning to ethanol production, a petroleum substitute distilled from molasses, as a way to rescue profitability and jobs.
"There is a bright future in this. Ethanol prices are going up in Europe, just as sugar prices are declining," John du Plessis, managing director of the Royal Swaziland Sugar Corporation (RSSC), explained.
IRIN - SWAZILAND - MBABANE
Monday 27 -
Sudanese sugar sector giant seeks Brazilian partners and suppliers
Kenana Sugar Company, the largest company in the sector in the African country, wants to build an ethanol factory and new sugar mills. Three company executives are in Brazil after business. 'Everyone is eyeing the Brazilian example,' stated Mohamed El Tegani, a director at the organization.
Arab-Brazilian chamber of comerce
Monday 13 - Green fuels start now
South Africa is going Brazilian, joining a worldwide scramble to catch up with the South American country’s successful use of the green fuel ethanol as its primary source of liquid energy.
Mail&Guardian - South Africa - Kevin Davie
Wednesday 1 - Haitian cane-cutters struggle
Little has changed in the sugar fields of the Dominican Republic since the 1870s - including how workers fare.
Danna Harman - The Christian Science Monitor
Wednesday 11 - Sugar strategy to focus on displaced workers
IN LIGHT of the unilateral changes by the European Union (EU) to the Sugar Protocol with African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries, Jamaica has developed a country strategy for sugar, which was recently approved by Cabinet.
Jamaica Cleaner
Thursday 5 - Sugar cane workers’ suit to be heard in federal court
A lawsuit on behalf of migrant workers against Florida Crystals’ Osceola Farms Co. is headed to trial in federal court.
Susan SALISBURY - Miami Herald USA
Thursday 8 - Multinationals, not farmers, reap biggest rewards in Britain’s share of CAP payouts
Manufacturers of bulk fats and sugar receive millions. Agency refuses to say why firms qualify for payments.
The Guardian (UK / GB) - Thursday December 8, 2005 - Felicity Lawrence
Friday 25 - Ethanol is not green
Kevin Davie’s article “Green fuels start now” (Feburary 10) seriously overstates the advantages of ethanol auto-fuels. Ethanol may be 45% cheaper than petrol in Brazil, but anyone who has driven in that country will know that you get significantly fewer kilometers per litre from it than from petrol.
Adam Welz - Mail & Guardian - South Africa
Friday 18 - JV project benefits emerging sugarcane growers
The 2005 Logistics Achiever Platinum award was recently awarded to the successful empowerment company, Buhle Betfu, which is the inspiration of listed South African transport and logistics company, Cargo Carriers. The company initiated the joint-venture sugarcane transport scheme together with a small community of emerging growers in Mpumalanga in 2001.
Engineering News - South Africa - Laura Tyrer
Saturday 15 -
Sugar cane’s bitter secret in Brazil
Sugar cane's bitter secret in Brazil
Miami Herald Tribune
Thursday 29 - The Zimbabwe government has intensified efforts to resuscitate the ethanol plant
Energy and Power Development Minister Retired Lieutenant-General Michael Nyambuya, who toured the plant, said his visit to Triangle was inspired by the crucial role that the company played in developing the country
He said his visit was aimed at familiarising with the situation on the ground and to discuss with the management at Triangle on the possibility of reopening the ethanol plant, which would produce ethanol for blending with petrol. Triangle stopped the production of ethanol for blending with petrol during the 1992 drought when the company could not produce enough sugarcane for ethanol production. However, currently, the company was producing about 30 mm litres of industrial ethanol for export.
HERALD - Zimbabwe
Tuesday 27 - Sugar reform: more financial support for ACP countries in 2006
The Development Committee is demanding extra aid for the ACP countries hit by the overhaul of the Community sugar regime. MEPs want the EU to provide €80 million in 2006, double the €40 million proposed by the European Commission when it unveiled the reform in June this year.
European Parliament
Friday 20 -
How Brazilian "Cats" Make Slavery a Thriving Business in Brazil
Last week the local papers reminded Brazilians of the signing of the Lei Áurea (Golden Law) by Princesa Isabel on May 13th, 1888, a law effectively abolishing slavery in Brazil.
Written by Gary Sands
Sunday 1 - Does the Deccan need more water ?
The river-linking project would lead to degradation of land and adversely affect the rural majority
by SUBRATA SINHA - Deccan Herald - India
Human Rights Abuses: Sugarcane famers dying of Chronic Renal Failure in Nicaragua
Memorandum International Justice Mission
Thursday 23 -
Salvador : How to have fun with ethanol - Cargill
When an American company processes Brazilian ethanol in an El Salvadoran plant, how many tax loopholes is it jumping through? And how many U.S. politicians are going to feign outrage?
salon.com
Saturday 3 - Sugar unit runs into controversy with greens
The setting up of the sugar unit at Kesarolli in Haliyal taluk has run into a controversy. The unit being constructed under the auspices of the Dandeli paper factory at Dandeli is facing charges of encroachment of forest land.
KARWAR, DHNS - Deccan Herald - India
Bitter pill for sugar industry
Govt decision on sugar price must be conditional on industry’s willingness to become more competitive. Sugar continues to be the most politically sensitive and highly emotional of all commodities that are widely traded internationally and domestically
Even in Thailand, one of the world’s top producers of this most common sweetener, the sugar industry remains tightly regulated, so much so that the retail price in the domestic market, which was fixed 22 years ago at Bt13 per kilogram, has been allowed to rise by only small increments to today’s Bt14.25. During that period the cost of living and people’s purchasing power have far outpaced it, not to mention the rising production costs of the sugar industry, which comprises planters, millers and traders who operate within a cartel-like structure.
Published on January 09, 2006 - The Nation - Thailand
Experts say ethanol boosting sugar
Sugar-producing nations are increasingly using cane to produce ethanol as they seek new markets for the traditional crop and demand for renewable fuel soars, keeping the commodity’s prices up, world sugar experts said Tuesday.
While much