Ethanol Plant To Be Built In Tak

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

I bought 100,000 Padaeng shares when they were THB 6-THB 10. This has evolved into a great company after restructuring and expiration of hedges! I will hold till they get to THB 100 each. Buy some at this early stage in the commodities supercycle. (Or should I say super-de-duper cycle)

Three firms to build ethanol plant

A sugar producer, an oil refiner and a zinc mining company have jointly formed a new company called Maesod Clean Energy Co to build an ethanol plant in northern Thailand, the companies said yesterday.

Padaeng Industry Plc, Southeast Asia's only zinc smelter operator, Mitr Phol Sugar Group, the country's largest sugar producer and exporter, and Thai Oil Plc, the country's largest oil refiner, will build the 1.5-billion-baht facility in Mae Sot, Tak province.

Commercial operations for the factory, which will produce 100,000 litres of ethanol a day from sugarcane juice, are expected to begin in 2009. By then, demand for ethanol is forecast to increase due to government promotion of gasohol 95, a 10% ethanol blend that is scheduled to replace Octane 95 at the pumps early next year.

''The venture will lift Thaioil's total ethanol production capacity to 600,000 litres a day in 2009 and enhance our business opportunities in terms of having more options for raw materials,'' said Viroj Mavichak, Thaioil's managing director.

In addition to the latest factory, Thaioil is now constructing a US$150-million ethanol factory, scheduled to become operational in 2008, that produces 500,000 litres per day from cassava roots. The company, which is 49.54% owned by the state-run oil giant PTT, plans to buy all the ethanol from both projects.

The joint-venture company was established with capital of 100 million baht. Padaeng Industry holds a 35% stake in the company; Petrogreen Co, a subsidiary of Mitr Phol Sugar Group also holds 35%, while Thaioil's stake is 30%.

Many local farmers have joined a crop cultivation programme supported by Padaeng. It granted 18 million baht worth of essential farming facilities for a pilot cultivation area of 3,000 rai where farmers could learn new techniques.

Maesod Clean Energy plans to enlarge the cultivation area of this project by about 10,000 rai in the initial phase, and ultimately to 60,000 rai.

Isara Vongkusolkit, president of Mitr Phol Sugar Group, said his conglomerate was confident Padaeng's management team could run the ethanol plant efficiently and without hurting the environment and surrounding communities.

Tak deputy governor Cherdsak Chusri said the ethanol plant would make farmers confident their products would be sold.

Shares of Padaeng (PDI) and Thaioil (TOP) closed unchanged on the Stock Exchange of Thailand yesterday at 36.25 baht and 61 baht respectively.