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2009 June 05

Colombian ethanol output to double in 2009: minister says

David Landes
editorial@worldbioenergy.org
 
Colombia’s agriculture minister forecast his country’s ethanol output would more than double by the end of the year.

"We're doing all we can to motivate national and foreign investment in biofuels," Fernandez Acosta told the Reuters news agency.

Colombia is the second largest ethanol producer in Latin America behind Brazil. The Andean country currently produces around 1.05 million litres of ethanol, derived primarily from sugarcane.

Colombia also produces biodiesel from palm oil.

According to the minister, six new projects planned for launch in 2009 will boost production by 1.37 million litres of ethanol a day.

Acosta estimated that his country has 3.9 million hectares of land available for sugarcane production.

Today Colombia devotes 478,000 hectares to sugarcane production, according to Reuters.

Read the full story here.