sugar companiesBrazilian sugar giant Raizen SA announced on Tuesday that it is shutting down one of its largest mills, the Santa Elisa plant, for an indefinite period as the company continues to adopt measures to deal with a large debt load.
Raizen, which is jointly owned by Shell and Brazilian group Cosan SA, said it has signed agreements with six sugar companies to sell 3.5 million metric tons of sugarcane that were originally meant to be processed at the Santa Elisa facility.
This sale is expected to generate 1.045 billion reais, which the company plans to use toward paying down its debt of over 30 billion reais.
The Santa Elisa mill, located in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil’s main sugar-producing region, has played a major role in the country’s sugar and ethanol history. Established 90 years ago, the plant helped cement Brazil’s position as the world’s top sugar exporter. In the 1970s, its former owners supported the creation of Brazil’s ethanol initiative, Proalcool, during a time of soaring global oil prices.
In May, Raizen sold another plant and has been offering more of its assets to rivals in a bid to manage its debt.
