US, Brazil ethanol under attack - corn growers

26 February 2008 17:14 [Source: ICIS news]

ORLANDO, Florida (ICIS news)--Speculation that growing ethanol production will lead to global starvation and wreak climate havoc is part of an organised campaign also targeted at the Brazilian industry, a US farm leader said on Tuesday.

National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) CEO Rick Tolman dismissed the idea that Brazil’s sugarcane ethanol is responsible for the deforestation of the Amazon and that the US corn-based biofuel industry is paving the way for widespread food shortages.

Tolman attributed the charges to ethanol critics bent on spreading misinformation about the industry.

“Ethanol seems to have some very big shoulders,” he said at the annual Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) ethanol conference in Orlando.

Tolman said the illegal timber trade in Brazil, and not ethanol, was the culprit in the deforestation of the Amazon region.

Brazil could double its ethanol production without venturing into protected land to plant sugarcane, he said, quoting an estimate from a Brazilian industry official.

Brazil produced more than 5bn gal (19bn litres) of ethanol in 2007, an increase of about 12% from 2006.

Tolman said US farmers could also deliver the corn needed to produce ethanol without diverting the product from other markets.

Brazil and the US are the world’s largest producers of the biofuel. US production in 2007 was 6.5bn gal.

The National Ethanol Conference is the US industry's key annual event. It opened on Tuesday and runs through Wednesday.

Bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog for some independent thinking on biofuels. For more on ethanol visit ICIS chemical intelligence

By: William Lemos
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