V8O

V8O t1_j861p8j wrote

Reply to comment by Roadkill_Bingo in [OC] Sugarcane was first introduced to Brazil in 1532. Half a millennium later, the country produces over 700M tonnes yearly (roughly the same amount as all of Asia, and 7x the amount produced by Africa) by latinometrics

The need is there because you drive gasoline powered cars (about a third of global gasoline demand is in the US). With that car fleet in place, your only pick is between oil or ethanol...

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V8O t1_j83hpjd wrote

Reply to comment by hadukenski in [OC] Sugarcane was first introduced to Brazil in 1532. Half a millennium later, the country produces over 700M tonnes yearly (roughly the same amount as all of Asia, and 7x the amount produced by Africa) by latinometrics

India is indeed 2nd largest in production, and India + Brazil together account for over half of all commercially grown sugar cane on the planet.

India is also the world's largest consumer of sugar, while Brazil (having a much smaller population) is the largest net exporter of sugar (even though half the sugar cane crop there gets turned into ethanol instead of sugar).

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V8O t1_j83gz5j wrote

Reply to comment by Roadkill_Bingo in [OC] Sugarcane was first introduced to Brazil in 1532. Half a millennium later, the country produces over 700M tonnes yearly (roughly the same amount as all of Asia, and 7x the amount produced by Africa) by latinometrics

You can't import sugar cane, it can't be stored for long before processing.

You could import ethanol made from sugar cane, but Brazil's entire production capacity is less than 2/3rds of US ethanol consumption.

And of course Brazil is already using this sugar cane and these factories to make ethanol for its own car fleet... Ethanol amounts to like 30-40% of all fuel used in gasoline engines in Brazil (which is like the world's 5th or 6th largest gasoline market).

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