John Myers Jr., Agriculture Coordinator
R. Danny Williams (left), chairman of the Jamaica Broilers Group, reviews notes with Robert Levy, president and chief executive officer, at a press conference to announce the company's $1 billion ethanol production. - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer
The Jamaica Broilers Group, the country's largest commercial poultry producer, is investing just over $1 billion in a fuel ethanol dehydration plant in Port Esquivel, St. Catherine.
This was announced yesterday by the Broilers' management at a press conference held at the Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce.
Robert Levy, group president and chief executive officer, said the facility would be able to produce 60 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol annually from the dehydration of hydrous ethanol to be imported from Brazil.
Mr. Levy said Jamaica Broilers was about to sign a contract with a Brazilian firm for the supply of the dehydration plant and equipment. He said the company would be seeking financing through the US$100 million loan facility agreement signed recently between Jamaica and Brazil.
Christopher Levy, vice-president in charge of the group's poultry operations, said the environmental impact assessments were currently being carried out and construction of the plant should begin by September.
"We are looking at a seven-month build; we figure we should be in operation by about May 2007," he said.
The 60 million gallons to be produced by Jamaica Broilers will complement the 150 million litres of ethanol already being produced by the state-owned Petrojam Ethanol, pushing the country's production to nearly 400 million litres.
LEADING REGIONAL SUPPLIER
However, Phillip Paulwell, Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, said the country needed to produce only 65 million litres of ethanol annually to produce 10 per cent ethanol petroleum blend or E10 blend fuel. He said the additional production would further propel Jamaica as the leading regional supplier of fuel-grade ethanol to the United States market where there is currently a shortage.
In the meantime, the company's officials are predicting that the venture will impact positively on its financial stability.
"We are projecting an approximate 40 per cent increase, at least in terms of the increased revenue from the project, so at revenues of about $11 billion currently that would translate to about $4.4 billion (in earnings)," said Ian Parsard, vice-president - finance at Jamaica Broilers.
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