Addition of 5% biodiesel in diesel begins to be compulsory in 2010

Production of fuel must increase 2.4 billion next year.

Lula says that the sector may become dependent on soybean.

The government has announced this Friday (23) the anticipation of the compulsory addition goal of 5% biodiesel in diesel used for the supply of vehicles. Initially, the forecast was to make this percentage compulsory from 2013 and, now, the government anticipated this forecast to January 2010. Nowadays this addition is 4%.

By the calculation of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), the compulsory addition of 5% is expected to increase the production of biodiesel in the country up to 2.4 billion liters. According to minister, Edison Lobão, that will make Brazil the second largest producer of biofuels worldwide.

"By adopting the B-5 it will adopt the second position as biodiesel producer, behind Germany only, surpassing the United States and France", asserted Lobão. The MME asserts that 80% of what will be produced will be producer units certified to prove the participation of family agriculture in the business.

Besides the anticipation of the initial goal, Lula said that the Brazilian biodiesel program needs to correct some distortions like the dependence on soybean production. According to him, it is necessary to find other vegetable oil crops to produce biodiesel safely for the years to come.

"I have just one year government, one year and some days more, and we cannot be dependent on soybean for biodiesel production. It is not the first time I have talked about investing in the research of other vegetable oil crops to guarantee the production of biodiesel. We must use soybean as a market regulator, that is, we can use it but not become dependent on it", said Lula.

BSBIOS is reference in diversification

The chief executive officer of BSBIOS, Erasmo Carlos Battistella, participated in the announcement by President Lula of B5 in Brasília. He asserted that the adoption of B5 from January means the consolidation of the sector.

In relation with the declarations of President Lula that Brazil cannot become dependent on soybean as raw material for the production of biodiesel, BSBIOS was recognized as an example to be followed, thus, it has encouraged the diversification when developing canola in Rio Grande do Sul. The crop has recorded increase in the area grown and in the production over the last crops. "We have a development sector that acts with farmers with the support of several entities linked to agribusiness and cooperatives, offering technical support, besides guaranteeing canola purchase. This is a way of not staying dependent on soybean only", emphasized Erasmo Battistella.