Biofuels not to blame for high sugar prices, Brazil avers

Engineering News
By: Jacqueline Holman
23rd April 2010

The biofuels industry cannot be blamed for the increase in the international sugar prices, states Brazilian Ambassador to South Africa José Vicente de Sá Pimentel.

He says that the current increase of the sugar price on the commodity market has mainly been caused by a reduction of international supply, especially in India. Indian sugar production, which is the second largest in the world, suffered a strong decline in 2009, owing to the reduction in planted areas and irregular rainfall.

Measures taken in recent years have resulted in farmers changing their cultivation. The Indian government also exerts control over the entire sugar production chain, including cultivated areas, plantation, harvest, relations between suppliers and sugar producers and the trading of the product.

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