Bunge and Itochu to Build Sugar Mill and Fuel-Ethanol Plant in Brazil

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Bunge Brasil SA (Sao Paulo, Brazil), a subsidiary of Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) (White Plains, New York), and Itochu Corporation (OTC:ITOCY) (Minato, Tokyo) have formed a partnership to build a sugarcane-based fuel-ethanol plant in the state of Tocantins in central Brazil. The plant will be built in two phases; Phase I will require an investment of $100 million, and the second will require $250 million. Bunge will invest 80%, and Itochu will invest the remaining 20%.

Construction on Phase I is expected to start in April 2009 and be complete in April 2010. The sugarcane-crushing capacity will be approximately 1.4 million tons per year, with about 53 million gallons of fuel ethanol produced annually. About 45 megawatts (MW) will be generated out of bagasse burning.

Equipment has been ordered from Brazilian companies. Uni-Systems do Brasil Limitada (Sertaozinho, Sao Paulo) will provide the extraction plant, EMG Eletro Mecanica de Geradores Limitada (Belford Roxo, Rio de Janeiro) is in charge of supplying the turbogenerators, and Biochamm Caldeiras e Equipamentos Industriais Limitada (Agrolandia, Santa Catarina) will design and build the boilers. A constructor will be selected in February 2009.

During the second phase, the plant will be expanded. It is expected to process 4.5 million tons per year of sugarcane to produce approximately 400,000 tons per year of sugar and generate 80 MW. The ethanol capacity is to remain at 53 million gallons per year. This expansion will be carried out in 2012.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services.