Nicola Jenvey
5 May 2008
Johannesburg — Engineering group Bosch is tasting sweet success in Brazil.
ONLY 16 months after first assessing opportunities for expanding the business into Brazil, B&A Group subsidiary Bosch Projects has reached a significant milestone by establishing an international company in the South American country.
Bosch Projects MD Mike Gibbon says the team initially visited Brazil to assess opportunities to extend the company's business interests in the thriving Brazilian sugar sector.
Establishing a foreign subsidiary represents a landmark for Bosch Projects, which has implemented a carefully-structured expansion programme into international sugar markets. The company is currently undertaking major work worldwide in Brazil, Tanzania, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, the US, Sudan, Barbados, Egypt, Kenya and Thailand.
The B&A Group originated in 1961 and has grown into one of the premier multi-company, multi-disciplinary engineering, projects and infrastructure operational management groups within SA.
Bosch Projects, which has a 21,5% black economic empowerment shareholding, represents the industrial arm of the business and offers expertise in consulting and project engineering, project management and specialised equipment design and sales.
Gibbon says Bosch Projects do Brasil and Brazilian company Dedini Industrias de Base have signed an agreement whereby Dedini exclusively uses the patented Bosch Projects chainless diffuser technology in Brazil.
The diffusers have captured a majority share of the Brazilian market since being launched by Dedini less than a year ago.
Brazil launched its ethanol fuel programme using cheap sugar cane -- mainly bagasse (cane waste) for processing heat and power nearly three decades ago. The initiative provides a 22% ethanol blend used nationally as well as a wholly anhydrous ethanol for 4-million cars.
The South American country is the largest producer of sugar and ethanol in the world, processing about 500-million hectares of cane annually. The current boom in demand for biofuels has created substantial growth in the Brazilian industry.
According to online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, the programme provided nearly 700000 jobs in 2003 and has slashed oil imports since 1975 by a cumulative $50bn. More than 30% of its vehicle fuels are derived from sugar cane-based ethanol.
Gibbon says 10 pieces of the highly specialised equipment have been supplied to date, including several 15m diffusers -- the largest used in the sugar cane industry.
The Dedini agreement also includes whole stick shredders, rotary juice screens, long tube evaporators, continuous vacuum pans, direct contact juice heaters, vertical crystallisers and massecuite reheaters.
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