Thursday, August 4, 2011

20110804 1007 Biofuels Related News.

ITAU BBA SEES RISK LESS CANE THAN UNICA FORECAST
Aug 1 (Reuters) - Itau BBA said on Monday it saw risks that centre-south Brazilian sugarcane output, hit by a mix of weather factors and aging plants, could be below the latest forecast by industry group Unica of 533.5 million tonnes in 2011/12.
"In the absence of a recovery in the agricultural and agro-industrial yields in the centre-south region, the 2011/12 sugarcane production might be even lower than Unica's estimate of 533.5 million tonnes," it said in a Brazil agribusiness report. It gave no figure.

BACKERS HOPE TO ADD ETHANOL 'FIX' TO US DEBT PLAN
WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) - Backers of a plan to revamp U.S. ethanol subsidies are trying to add the plan to a debt ceiling deal, said Senator Amy Klobuchar, an ethanol supporter, on Thursday.
"We're still working on it hard," Klobuchar told reporters. "There is room for change in negotiations."
As of Thursday at midday, ethanol was not part of a debt bill offered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and expected to be the Senate alternative to a House debt bill.

BRAZIL KEEPS 25 PCT ETHANOL CUT IN GASOLINE FOR NOW
BRASILIA, July 28 (Reuters) - Brazil will maintain its 25 percent ethanol blend in gasoline for now, energy minister Edison Lobao said late on Wednesday, as supplies were seen adequate despite this year's disappointing sugar cane crop.
Lobao met with officials on Wednesday night to discuss reducing gasoline's anhydrous ethanol content, to ration expected smaller biofuel supplies and avert a surge in prices in the interharvest period once the sugar cane crop, from which it is produced, ends.

BRAZIL SEES MORE ETHANOL IMPORTS THIS SEASON
SAO PAULO, July 27 (Reuters) - Brazil will expand ethanol imports this year and may also boost gasoline imports to meet booming fuel demand, industry officials said on Wednesday, in another sign of Brazil's growing importance in global fuel markets.
Brazil is likely to import a further 250 million liters of anhydrous ethanol by the end of the 2011/12 sugar cane season, on top of 400 million liters brought in so far this season, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, technical director of cane industry association Unica told Reuters.

US ETHANOL OUTPUT UP, FUTURES AT 5-YEAR HIGHS
CHICAGO, July 27 (Reuters) - U.S. ethanol production rose modestly for a second straight week on improving margins with tight supplies of corn helping ethanol futures  hover near a five-year high notched on Tuesday.
Corn supplies are forecast by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be the smallest in 15 years this summer and prices for the animal feed and ethanol feedstock has surged in cash markets, with the new-crop harvest still weeks away.

BRAZIL CANE CRUSH GAINS ON LAST SEASON, OUTLOOK DIM
BRASILIA, July 26 (Reuters) - Crushing of cane in Brazil and production of sugar and ethanol made from it are catching up with the 2010 season, data from cane industry association Unica showed on Tuesday, but the crop may soon run out of puff.
The crush totaled 217.4 million tonnes from the start of the season through July 16. That was 15 percent less than by the same time last season but the gap had narrowed from a lag of 18 percent at the start of July.  

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