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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV TNGD KSCA EAGR BR
SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT OF BRAZIL SET TO INVEST OVER USD 175 MILLION 
TOWARD BIOFUEL RESEARCH 
 
¶1.  The following is an excerpt from an article published in the 
August 31 issue of the Brazilian daily Valor Economico: 
 
Begin Text:  President Lula's Chief of Staff, Minister Dilma 
Rousseff, announced Aug 30, 2006, during the first national biofuels 
meeting, that the Government of Brazil (GoB) has set aside over USD 
175 million in the budget for various ministries to invest in 
research and development of biofuels by 2008.  She was quoted as 
saying "We (the GoB) are very concerned with the logistics and 
infra-structure of biofuels.  She continued by saying that Petrobras 
would be responsible for over USD 60 million. 
 
At the event, President Lula announced a USD 21 million investment 
for the implementation of a biodiesel refinery in the state of 
Goias.  The unit will be ready by February 2007, and will produce 
100 million liters of biodiesel through the purchase of 100 thousand 
tons of vegetable oil.  The president of the company, Alberto Borges 
de Sousa, mentioned that 30 % of the future production has already 
been sold by Petrobras in auctions.  However he added that in order 
to reach industrial equilibrium, the refinery will have to sell 80 % 
of what it produces. 
 
Minister Rousseff also mentioned in one her lectures that the 
investments would also come from the Ministry of Mines and Energy, 
Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT) and Embrapa (Brazilian 
Agricultural Research Corporation).  The MCT predicts investing USD 
17 million in biodiesel research and USD 5 million in the 
development of ethanol. 
 
Rouseff projects savings of USD 160 million a year worth through the 
substitution of diesel imports by biodiesel.  She also mentioned the 
availability of agricultural land for the production of biofuels. 
According to her, the production of the necessary biodiesel to allow 
a 5% mix of that fuel in normal diesel fuel will occupy 1 %, or 4 
million hectares, of the total agricultural land of the country. 
She also said that Brazil's industrial sector must pay attention to 
the opportunities of developing technologies. 
 
She continued by saying that the enzyme and seed industry could 
benefit from biodiesel and ethanol.  "It's an opportunity that 
appears every 100 years. It is a strategic sector since it produces 
wealth, income and jobs", she said.  The Minister also mentioned the 
possibility of moving up the deadline for the mandatory 5 % 
biodiesel mix to regular diesel, originally set to January of 2013. 
"We have to be very careful in order not to put ourselves into 
trouble", she warned.  The original deadline calls for 2 % (or 1 
billion liters a year) mandatory mix by January 2008.  The 5 % mix 
would raise the demand to 2.4 billion liter a year. End Text 
 
¶2.  Comment:  Presently, most GoB research is funneled through the 
Ministry of Science and Technology and Petrobras (a company 
partially owned by the government.)  The research is focused on: 
better efficiency, production of hydrogen fuel cells using ethanol, 
production of bioethanol from the biomass from sugarcane, industrial 
use of ethanol and using ethanol as an input for fuel cells. 
Research is also done on sugarcane focusing on the different kinds 
of sugar cane including the GMO varieties. 
 
¶3.  Recently, the state government of Maranhco reported that they 
will receive USD 25 million from various banks including Bank of 
Brasil, the Brazilian National Development Bank (BNDES) and some 
banks from Japan for Research and Development for their ethanol 
program. Most of the investments into research in biofuels in Brazil 
come from the private sector according to Brazilian Exame magazine. 
Recent estimates from the Brazilian Association for Industry 
Machines and Equipment show that approximately USD 1.7 billion will 
be invested in biodiesel infrastructure in the next three years. End 
Comment 
 
CHICOLA