Chinese company to invest in Honduras

China Continental, based in Tianjin, China, will finance a US$30 million ethanol project in Honduras, newspaper La Prensa quoted Arturo Castillo, the president of the country’s independent banana growers’ association Aprobana, as saying. The project will require 20,000 hectares. Some 2,000 farmers will make yucca root available to produce ethanol, Castillo said. The ethanol plant will begin operations in two years and will produce 20 million liters a year, the report said. The company will finance the planting of yucca plantations and the ethanol plant. (September 25, 2006)