In a follow up to a recent post about the forecasted record sugarcane harvest in Brazil, it appears that this won’t come to fruition. UNICA, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association, has released today the news that heavy rains in South-Central Brazil, the country’s top sugarcane producing region, caused a drop of 23.8 percent in the volume of sugarcane crushed during the second half of August, as compared to the two weeks prior.
According to UNICA, the sharp reversal in climatic conditions caused several cane-growing regions to interrupt crushing in more than 50 percent of the available time. States most affected were São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul and Parana, with a crushed cane reduction of more than 30 percent compared to the first half of August.
The organization has also reported that accumulated ethanol exports so far in the harvest stood at 1.79 billion liters, 25.66 percent less than the 2.41 billion shipped abroad in the same period of the previous harvest. While anhydrous ethanol exports decreased by 67.4 percent, hydrated ethanol exports surged by 24.75 percent.
The volume of domestic sales is the result of two factors: sales of flex-fuel vehicles, which in August surpassed 94 percent of the total sales of Otto Cycle vehicles, increasing the fleet of flex vehicles to 35 percent of Brazil’s total; and the competitiveness of hydrated ethanol in comparison to gasoline prices at the pump. In more than 82 percent of the Brazilian market, prices at the pumps were below 65 percent of the price of a liter of gasoline.
UNICA’s revised projection for the production of sugar and ethanol in the 2009/2010 harvest will be released with the next harvest update, at the end of September.
American soybean growers have netted an extra $2.5 billion over the past four years, thanks to demand for soybean-based biodiesel.
“Any lowering of the price of inputs for the animal agriculture industry is a plus,” Bainbridge said. “The swine and dairy industries have had a tough time lately. This is a benefit for them. Every little bit helps in the poultry and livestock industries as far as decreasing their costs. And this demonstrates how biodiesel demand can have a positive impact on this important aspect of our food supply.”
The U.S. Department of Energy is currently reviewing the application and will soon finalize the list of public and private partners that will receive funding through the grant program. Technologies and fuels covered under this program include neighborhood electric, hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid electric, compressed natural gas, E85 and biodiesel.
They might be sailin’ the ocean blue, but some U.S. Navy pilots will soon be flying biodiesel green!
The 
The First Coop Association is one of many stations to take advantage of the Renewable Fuels Promotional Assistance Program sponsored by the 
The race is on… but this time it’s to build a cleaner burning snowmobile.
Yesterday, I told you about how a 
The energy company serving Philadelphia with electrical power is going to use its own product to run some of its vehicles.
The potential of a historic corn crop in the United States – planted on fewer acres – demonstrates the country’s farmers can produce more than enough corn for both food and ethanol production, said Tom Buis, Chief Executive Officer of 
The new category was introduced by the Dakar Rally organizers at the request of Brazilian rally veteran and former rally winner Klever Kolberg, who will drive the first-ever flex-fuel vehicle to take part in the prestigious race next year – a Brazilian-made 2010 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport model equipped with flex-fuel technology, with support from the