Production of Ethanol from Sugarcane in Brazil

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Introduction

   • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

   Pages 1-4

3. State Intervention in the Sugarcane Ethanol Industry in Brazil

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 5-5

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   2. State Intervention in the Chain of Production of Ethanol from Sugarcane in Brazil: Its Forms and Effects on the Development of the Sector Between the 1930s and 1980s

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 7-43

4. The Government Distances Itself in the 1990s: The Break and the Learning Curve

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 45-45

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   2. The 1990s: Deregulation of the Sector

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 47-52

   3. Organizational Changes Within the Public Sphere

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 53-58

   4. Organizational Changes Within the Private Sphere

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 59-64

   5. Price Supports for Fuel Ethanol, Sugarcane, and Freight Charges: Alterations Stemming from Deregulation

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 65-68

   6. Changes Related to Production and Marketing Controls on Sugar: Fixed Production Levels, Crop Plans, Exports, and the Differential Collection of the Industrialized Products Tax

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 69-73

   7. The Marketing of Sugarcane and Ethanol: Changes Resulting from Deregulation

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 75-80

   8. Activities of the Inter-Ministerial Council on Sugar and Ethanol During the Deregulation Process

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 81-85

   9. Interested Parties Come to the Defense of the Sugarcane Ethanol Industry

      • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

      Pages 87-91

   10. The Process of Deregulating the Sugarcane–Ethanol Industry

       • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

       Pages 93-96

   11. Deregulation of the Sugarcane Ethanol Industry in the Late 1990s: The New Role of the Government and More Efficient Ways of Marketing

       • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

       Pages 97-135

   12. Political Determinants of the Decision-Making Processes: The Players, their Power Resources, and the Redefinition of their Roles in the New Institutional Environment

       • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

       Pages 137-148

   13. The Free Market: The Profound Changes and the New Agenda

       • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

       Pages 149-193

   14. The Future of Biofuel in Brazil

       • Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes, David Zilberman

       Pages 195-212

5. Back Matter

   Pages 213-221

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The success of Brazil in the large-scale production and use of fuel ethanol has been widely discussed and analyzed by other countries interested in adopting policies designed to encourage the use of biofuels. Within this context, certain questions arise: Could the Brazilian experience be replicated in other countries? What were the conditions that enabled the creation of the Brazilian Proálcool (National Ethanol Program and what lessons can be learned? To examine these issues, it is important to understand the functioning of the key, interconnected markets (those for sugarcane, sugar and ethanol), which, from their inception, were the objects of extensive government intervention until 1999. Two main conditions enabled the creation of Proálcool: robust production of sugarcane and sugar (tightly regulated by the government, which applied the numerous regulations then in place); and the military regime that was in place at the time, whose decision-making and enforcement powers were quite broad, facilitating the carrying out of the necessary actions, as well as making it easier to coordinate the activities of the various stakeholders and sectors involved. This book increases understanding of the functioning of the sugarcane supply chain in Brazil, not only during the phase of government intervention but also in recent years (in the free-market environment). The lessons, positive and negative, gleaned from the Brazilian experience can contribute to reflection on and the development of alternative modalities of biofuel production in other countries, making the book of interest to scholars and policy-makers concerned with biofuel and renewable resources as well as economic development.

• Deregulation
• Energy
• Ethanol
• Free Market
• State Intervention
• Sugarcane

• Economics, Business and Sociology, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ) ,University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, Brazil

  Márcia Azanha Ferraz Dias de Moraes

• Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California, Berkeley, USA

  David Zilberman

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