Bunge Buys Sugarcane Mill

NEW YORK - Sep 18/07 - SNS -- Bunge Limited signed an agreement to buy Agroindustrial Santa Juliana, a sugarcane mill and ethanol production facility located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, from the Tenorio Group.

The mill, which commenced operation last year, will have the capacity to mill 1.6 million metric tons in the upcoming harvest season. Bunge has plans to expand the capacity to 4 million metric tons per year within the next several years.

The Tenorio Group located the mill in southwestern Minas Gerais, near the cities of Uberlandia and Araxa, because of the region's suitability for sugarcane production, as well as its proximity to large domestic sugar and ethanol markets, including Sao Paulo state. The mill benefits from efficient logistics and is connected by rail to the ports of Santos and Vitoria.

Sugar-based ethanol is widely considered to be one of the most energy efficient biofuels. The Santa Juliana mill produces its own energy by burning bagasse, a residual biomass produced during sugarcane milling.