Brazil

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Brazil to Increase Mandatory Biodiesel Blend to 5% in 2010; Mandatory Emissions Testing for Vehicles

October 28, 2009

Effective January 2010, Brazilian diesel fuel vehicles will be required to run on a 5% biodiesel blend, up from 4% at present. The announcement was made last Friday by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and is expected to raise biodiesel production levels to 2.4 billion liters (634 million gallons) in 2010.

Meeting the higher mandate will move Brazil to being the second-largest producer of biodiesel in the world, only behind Germany, according to Brazil’s Secretariat of Social Communication of the Republic. Currently, Brazil is fourth, with Germany, the US and France in the number 1, 2 and 3 positions respectively.

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Iveco Electric Daily Prototype Begins Testing in Brazil

September 04, 2009

The Electric Daily in Brazil. Click to enlarge.

Iveco has presented a prototype of its new Electric Daily in Brazil, destined to be the first zero emission light commercial vehicle produced in Latin America. The project builds on Iveco’s long-running research and development of electric propulsion, which started with the development of the first Daily with pure electric drive in 1986.

This new project sees Iveco collaborating with Itaipu Binacional, an organization which manages the largest hydroelectric generating station in the world on the border between Brazil and Paraguay. The production of the prototype will enable suitability testing to be carried out, looking specifically at the utilization of electrical energy for the transportation of goods and passengers.

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GM Brazil to Invest R$2B in Expansion and New Line of Chevrolet Small Cars

July 16, 2009

General Motors Brazil will invest R$2 billion (US$1.033 billion) to launch a new Chevrolet line of vehicles and to expand its plant in Gravataí, Rio Grande do Sul. The investment is the largest made by the company in its 84 years in Brazil.

Included in the investment program is the renewal of the current line of Chevrolet vehicles in 2012, and the launch of a new line of small cars (two models) for Brazil and emerging markets—“Project Onyx.”

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Petrobras Biocombustível To Invest US$2.4B in Biodiesel and Ethanol Production

March 10, 2009

As part of its newly released business plan, Brazil’s Petrobras Biocombustível intends to invest approximately US$2.4 billion in biodiesel and ethanol production from 2009-2013; 91% of the investment is targeted for Brazil.

This investment is part of a total of $2.8 billion Petrobras earmarked for the biofuels business, which also foresees expenditures of US$400 million in infrastructure, such as ethanol pipelines. The total resources represent an 87% increase compared to the previous business plan. Petrobras also earmarked US$530 million for biofuel research in the period.

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NREL and Petrobras to Collaborate on Advanced Biofuels Research

November 21, 2008

The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) have signed an agreement that could accelerate the development and international commercialization of advanced, second-generation biofuels. The announcement was made at the International Biofuels Conference in São Paulo, Brazil.

Petrobras and NREL have common interests in the development of next-generation biofuels technologies through biochemical and thermochemical routes from biomass. NREL conducts R&D related to techno-economic, environmental and sustainability evaluation of advanced biofuels in support of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) and other partners.

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Monsanto Acquires Brazilian Sugarcane Breeding and Genomics Companies for $290M

November 03, 2008

Sugarcane, a monocot, can benefit from Monsanto’s existing work on its corn platform. Click to enlarge.

Monsanto is acquiring Aly Participações Ltda., which operates the sugarcane breeding and biotechnology companies, CanaVialis S.A. and Alellyx S.A., both of which are based in Brazil. The $290-million (R$616 million) cash purchase marks a major move by Monsanto into the large-acre row crop. Monsanto said that the acquisition was driven by long-term changes driving greater global demand for food and biofuel sources.

CanaVialis is the world’s largest private sugarcane breeding company. Through its breeding activities, CanaVialis is developing and commercializing proprietary germplasm that is anticipated to bring significant yields to sugarcane over publicly available varieties. Alellyx is an applied genomics company that is focused on developing biotech traits primarily for sugarcane.

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