SJC Bioenergia will have an installed capacity to process up to 7.5 million metric tons of sugarcane in 2013. It combines Cargill’s experience as a global trader of sugar and ethanol and Grupo USJ’s 65 years of expertise in the sugarcane industry.
The two partners will share management of SJC Bioenergia on a 50/50 basis. The new company will also inherit sugarcane supply agreements held with local farmers who supply its two mills. In addition to sugar and ethanol, SJC Bioenergia will also generate electricity from sugarcane bagasse. One-third of this power will supply all company needs and two thirds will be sold to the national grid.
According to Ingo Kalder, the director in charge of SJC, the company currently employs 2,195 people. Once Cachoeira Dourada is concluded in 2013, this figure will increase to 3,000.
The two mills process five million metric tons of sugarcane to produce 170 million litres of ethanol and 420,000 tons of sugar every harvest, in addition to 350,000 MW of energy every year. Once the company crushes 7.5 million metric tons of sugarcane in 2013/2014, it will be able to produce an additional 200 million litres of ethanol and another 200,000 MW of electricity.
Cargill already has equity interest in Cevasa, a mill based in Patrocínio Paulista, SP (Brazil), which recently doubled its sugarcane processing capacity to threem metric tons per year, and now also produces sugar.
Marcelo Andrade, director of Cargill’s sugar and ethanol business in Brazil, said: “The two SJC mills in Goiás have synergies, competitive economies of scale and are designed for easy and fast expansion. We are also considering the possibility of producing other products in the region, based on new technologies. The region features fully mechanised planting and harvesting, and its farmers are committed to developing this industry.”
Source: Cargill
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