Seara, from JBS, invests R $180 million in the construction of the third Biodiesel unit of the group

Seara Alimentos, a subsidiary of JBS, will invest R $180 million in the construction of a biodiesel factory in Santa Catarina, with Operation planned for 2021, the largest global producer of meats reported on Tuesday. The third biodiesel unit of JBS will use as raw materials waste as fats of poultry and pigs, rich material in the state where the company has important meat production units. In the other two biodiesel factories of the group, in Lins (SP) and Campo Verde (MT), places where the beef operations of JBS are stronger, the beef sebum ends up being the predominant raw material in the production of biodiesel. The new unit of JBS Biodiesel, in Mafra (SC), more than will double the company's productive capacity, which must exceed 600 million liters/year, JBS said. The plant can also use soy as raw material, said the company, referring to the main input for the production of biodiesel in the country, where the legislation obliges the mixture 10% of biofuel in diesel. Only in Santa Catarina, JBS maintains more than 30 operations of Seara in 18 municipalities, among productive units of poultry, pigs, industrialized, food factories, among others. The company's bet on a new operation also considers the industry's optimistic scenario. "Until 2023, from the RenovaBio program, the biodiesel mixture in the composition of the diesel will reach 15% with the entry of the B15," explained the director of JBS Biodiesel, Alexandre Pereira, in a note sent to Reuters. With the third unit, JBS Biodiesel will reinforce its position among the top ten biodiesel producers in the country, after increasing its sales by 25% in 2018 to 260 million liters. The JBS stressed that MAFRA has efficient logistics of boarding and disembarkation by rail and road, besides being 120 km from Araucaria (PR), where the Presidente Getúlio Vargas Refinery (Repar) is installed, one of the main units of Mixing and distribution of the country's diesel. "JBS Biodiesel's purpose is to add value to the residues of the JBS production chain," the company said. The company also highlighted that it also uses recovered frying oil for the production of biodiesel. "With the new plant in Mafra, [JBS] will further reinforce its sustainable bias, expanding its performance in the supply chain of the poultry and swine segments."