Raizen achieves cost savings faster than expected
Brazilian sugar and ethanol group Cosan SA announced that cost savings for Raizen, its 50-50 joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell PLC, have materialized faster than expected and will most likely continue to grow. “What we had hoped to capture in two years, we captured in six months,” Cosan Investor Relations manager Guilherme Machado said. Guilherme showed analysts that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of Raizen’s fuel segment was at 55.7 Brazilian reais (US$31.01) per 1,000 liters of fuel sold, 73% higher from a year earlier. Because of Cosan’s 24 sugarcane mills, Raizen is now Brazil’s largest sugar and ethanol producer and distributes fuel such as ethanol, gasoline and diesel fuel across the country through a network of 4,561 gas stations. Cosan owns around 1,700 of the gas stations while Shell owns the rest. (December 8, 2011)
