COFCO International is investing in its cane processing plants in Brazil to expand ethanol production, as it expects that next season the fuel will again give better returns than sugar, reports Reuters.
COFCO is building new distillation columns and tanks at three of its four plants in Brazil, to increase ethanol capacity, the company’s global head of soft commodities Marcelo de Andrade told Reuters at Datagro 2019 International Conference on Sugar and Ethanol.
The investment indicates the Chinese trader does not see any significant improvement on sugar prices in the short term, betting ethanol will still generate more profits for Brazil-based mills, as it has for the last two seasons.
