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A. LE FLOCH
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.
Government has identified biofuels as a key industry in its Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (Asgi-SA) because of its potential to create jobs and lessen the country's dependence on oil.
Speaking at a biofuel workshop in Johannesburg on Friday, Dedini vice-president Jose Luiz Oliverio said that if the local sugar industry added five more plants to the current 14, it would increase the number of direct jobs from 85000 to 123000.
There are about 47000 registered sugar cane growers that annually produce, on average, 22-million tons of sugar cane.
Oliverio said SA should add sugar cane to its energy mix. "The total energy content in sugar is more than that in oil," he said.
Sugar producer Tongaat-Hulett last month announced plans to incorporate a 17,6-million-litre-a-year ethanol plant at its Xinavane, Mozambique, plant.
The company said it was also considering bioethanol projects in SA and Swaziland.
Representatives of Brazilian government, government-related institutions and the private sector were in SA last week to share with their South African counterparts their experience in biofuel.
The Brazilian delegations included deputy mines and energy minister Nelson Jose Hubner, senior officials in the external relations ministry, and representatives of government-related bodies such as Petroleum National Agency and the National Institute of Metrology, Standardisation and Industrial Quality.
Brazil is widely considered a pioneer in ethanol production.
The country launched its ethanol programme in the mid-70s when its fuel consumption depen-ded on foreign oil.
A government-appointed task team is expected to propose a 10% blending of ethanol in conventional petrol as part of SA's biofuel strategy.
The Central Energy Fund (CEF) and Brazilian energy company Petrobras said on Friday they had signed a memorandum of understanding to conduct a feasibility study with the aim of introducing ethanol as a component of petrol in SA.
The two companies said they would consider the feasibility of increasing sugar cane planting in SA. "We at CEF have an interest in developing technology for the production of sugar cane ethanol and the introduction of a blending programme in SA," said CEF CEO Mputumi Damane.
Paulo Roberto Costa said Petrobras wanted to expand its production worldwide "so that we can have reliable production to meet the world demand for renewable fuels".
Brazil's National Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers' Association vice-president Elizabeth de Carvalhaes said that out of the total 32000 fuel stations in Brazil, 30000 stocked ethanol.
De Carvalhaes said Brazil was keen to add vehicles to the list of items covered by the free trade agreement between the Southern African Customs Union and the Latin American trade bloc Mercosur.