
On September 9, the Colombian government released a new resolution to decrease its ethanol blend level to 4% (E4), effective September 11, according to USDA’s recent attaché report.

Colombia – Lower blend mandate forecast reduce ethanol production by over 6% in 2021 [Full subscriber]
In 2021, Colombia’s fuel ethanol production is estimated to decrease by 6.3% to 370 million litres in response to a lower blend mandate despite the partial recovery in the fuel pool, according to a recent USDA attaché report.

Colombia – Asocana President calls for amendment to the CAN customs union agreement [Full subscriber]
The Colombian sugar industry has been caught out by imports from sugar producers in Ecuador and Bolivia who have duty-free access to the market via the free trade agreement in the customs union Comunidad Andina (CAN).

Colombia – Uproar over patenting of the traditional panela production process [Full subscriber]
Granting of the patent in the USA in April 2020 for producing non-centrifuge sugar, a widely known process, continues to cause a stir.

Colombia – 30,000 jobs at risk from ethanol imports from USA [Full subscriber]
The president of Asocaña, the local sugar industry association, María Eugenia Lloreda, is calling for imposing a tariff of 22% on ethanol imports from the USA, otherwise, 30,000 jobs in the sector are at risk as is the viability of the ethanol industry in Colombia, she stressed.

Colombia – 2018 sugar output and exports increase by 10% [Full subscriber]
Between January and November 2018, the industry milled 23 million tonnes of cane, that is, 3% percent more than in 2017, with sugar production expected to reach 2.44 million tonnes with an increase of 9% compared to a year ago, according to the Sugar Cane Growers Association of Colombia (Asocaña).

Colombia – Over million tonnes of cane-bagasse converted into paper [Full subscriber]
The paper and paper products company Carvajal Pulpa y Papel annually converts around 1,100,000 tonnes of cane bagasse into paper, according to local press reports. This represents less than 30% of the bagasse produced at the country’s mills.

Colombia – Ethanol blending mandate increased to 10% [Full subscriber]
Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy raised blending of ethanol in the gasoline mixture from 8% to 10% on 1st March.

Ecuador to impose a tariff of 15% on sugar imports from Colombia [Registered]
Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Trade is to introduce a tariff of 15% for Colombian sugar beyond the preferential access of 30, 000 tonnes, according to local press reports.

Ecuador decries sugar smuggled from Colombia [Registered]
So far this year 70,000 tons of sugar from Colombia have been illegally imported into Ecuador said the National Union of Sugarcane Growers of Ecuador (UNCE), according to local press reports.