Cargill and Brazil’s Usina Sao Jose form new joint venture

Cargill International, a privately held, multinational corporation, based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and the Brazilian sugarcane group Usina Sao Jose (USJ) announced the formation of a new company as part of a joint venture in the sugar, ethanol and bioelectricity business. The new business will be formed using Cargill’s capital and USJ’s expertise in trading ethanol and sugar. Each company will have a 50% stake in the new venture. The venture includes two of USJ’s mills in the municipality of Quirinopolis, giving the new company a processing capacity of 7.5 million metric tons per year of sugarcane. This is Cargill’s second venture into the sugar and ethanol business. The company acquired a 64% stake in the Cevasa group, which is an association of producers in Sao Paulo. (June 3,2011)