Mixture of 10% of biodiesel does not compromise soybean supply

Seminar of APROBIO discussed benefits and perspectives of biofuel

The Brazilian production of biodiesel has conditions to meet the mixture superior to 10% per liter of fossil diesel in 2020, when the federal government has shown that it is going to authorize this percentage. This was stated by the chief of Transference of Technology of Embrapa Agro-energy, José Manuel Cabral de Sousa Dias, last Wednesday (29/8) at seminar "Biodiesel in Agro-energy", promoted by the Association of Biodiesel Producers of Brazil (APROBIO), at the 35th Expointer, one of the greatest international livestock fairs of exhibitions of the world, in Esteio (RS).

According to José Cabral, with the same area of soybean planted (30 million hectares, as for the Ministry of Agriculture's predictions, in 2020, the biodiesel production for 10% of mixture will consume 35.4% of the grain production projected for that year (86.5 million ton). "This will not compromise the internal supply or exports", he said. Today, 14% of Brazilian soybean turns into oil for biodiesel production. The seminar at Expointer did not limit to biodiesel production from soybean. The chief of Technology Transference of Embrapa spoke about the researches with jatropha curcas and Abyssinian, non-food oilseed, which seed concentrates from 35% to 60% of oil.

The advisor of APROBIO, Alexandre Pereira, spoke about the production of biofuel from beef tallow. He explained the investments in georeferencing of the herd location in legal Amazônia to avoid slaughtering of animal raised in nature reserves.

Beef tallow, which was waste of cattle industry before, represents 15% of raw material of biodiesel. According to Alexandre, each live animal consumes until 8 liters of diesel in its raise, until the slaughtering. After industrialization its tallow generates 20 liters of biodiesel.

Trade Balance

During his lecture at the event, the director of the Brazilian Center of Infrastructure (CBIE), Rafael Schechtman, reminded the positive impact of biodiesel on the balance of the Brazilian foreign trade. He mentioned the data of the balance last year, when the country paid US$ 7.4 billion for biodiesel import. To Rafael, with 10% of biodiesel mixture in diesel the relief in payment would be higher, with positive impact in logistics of diesel imports, while the diesel refineries of Petrobras are not done. Data of Getúlio Vargas Foundation, not mentioned by the director of the CBIE at the seminar, point to an economy of US$ 2.84 billion in 2005, when the National Program of Production and Use of Biodiesel (PNPB) was created to 2010 in external purchases of diesel due to biodiesel production.

The same study of the FGV calculated that in a scenario of B10 this economy would be US$ 1.67 billion in 2010, based on price FOB (at the harbor of the seller country) last year. In the same day of APROBIO's seminar, which was achieved in partnership with the Secretry of Agriculture, Livestock and Agro-business of Rio Grande do Sul, Petrobras announced that it will double its imports of diesel until 2014. Besides state authorities and leaderships of agro-business in RS, the initiative counted on the participation of Marco Antonio Viana Leite, who is the representative of the Rural Development Minister Pepe Vargas; and João Abreu, who is the representative of the Agriculture Minister Mendes Ribeiro,.

Yet, Federal representative Jerônimo Goergen, president of the Parliamentary Front of Biodiesel in the National Congress and coordinator of the Agricultural Politics of the State Secretry of Agriculture, professor Dilson Bisognin.