Cuba plans to increase ethanol production

Cuba plans to increase ethanol production
Thursday, June 22, 2006 (Havana):

Cuba is investing in its ethanol refineries with hopes of increasing its
production of the renewable fuel fivefold as it bets on growing ethanol
demand in the face of rising petroleum prices.

Luis Galvez of the Cuban Research Institute for Sugar Cane Derivatives
said by 2010 Cuba hoped to be producing 500 million liters (about 130
million gallons) of ethanol annually, which he said would be a fivefold
increase of what it produces now.

Galvez spoke to about 200 representatives from a dozen countries at an
international congress on sugar and its derivatives.

He did not give a current production figure for Cuban ethanol, but did
say the island had 17 distilleries capable of producing up to 180
million liters (about 48 million gallons) annually.

Modernizing plants

To increase production, Galvez said, Cuba must modernize 11 of those
existing plants and build seven additional new ones. He did not say how
much the improvements would cost.

"We are going to significantly improve the capacity we have now," Galvez
said.

Peter Baron, president of the London-based International Sugar
Organization, told the sugar congress on Tuesday that Cuba, which gets
most of its petroleum on favorable terms from its political ally
Venezuela, could benefit by producing ethanol for its own use.

Cuba has been looking for alternative uses for sugar in recent years as
the crop has become less important for the island's economy, and
harvests have dropped dramatically.

Cuba's 2004-2005 sugar harvest was dramatically lower than in recent
years, estimated at 1.5 million metric tons. (AP)

http://www.ndtvprofit.com/homepage/storybusinessnew.asp?template=&whichstory=n&id=31846