Grupo BBF reinforces that the global market needs to understand the sustainability of Brazilian palm oil production

At an event in Switzerland, the CEO of Grupo BBF explained the difference between Brazilian and Southeast Asian oil palm production

São Paulo, January 19, 2024 - The sustainability of Brazilian oil palm production - the plant that gives rise to the most consumed vegetable oil in the world, palm oil - and the rigidity of national legislation for this sector need to be shown to the American, European and Asian markets, according to Milton Steagall, CEO of Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels). The executive made the case for sustainable oil palm production during the panel "Brazil's commitments to ESG", which is part of the programme of the "Brazil Economic Forum", an event organized by LIDE in Zurich, Switzerland, this Friday (19).
Alongside the likes of Minister and President of the Supreme Court, Luis Roberto Barroso, and the President of the Federal Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, leaders and businesspeople from Brazil and abroad, Steagall explained that palm oil is a key element in decarbonization, as it can be used to produce biofuels and electricity for remote regions of the Brazilian Amazon, which are connected to Isolated Systems.
The sector's big challenge, however, is to explain to the world that Brazil's palm oil production model is completely different from that of Southeast Asia, the region that is home to the world's largest producers of the crop, and that Brazilian palm is produced in an environmentally sustainable and socially just way.
"The big challenge today for the crop to thrive is financing and for us to be able to show the community in the United States, the European Union and Asia that Brazilian production is different from that practiced in Southeast Asia. Europe, for example, has banned palm oil from its trade relations because today 90% of palm oil is produced in Southeast Asia and they deforested it in order to have this production, which means that the origin of this oil is contaminated. The case of Brazil is different, because we have very robust legislation [that prevents deforestation]," he explains.
According to the businessman, the sustainable cultivation of oil palm, popularly known as dendê, follows federal government legislation from 2010, called the Agroecological Zoning of Oil Palm (Decree 7.172), which is considered one of the strictest in the world. According to the legislation, oil palm can only be grown in the country in degraded areas of the Amazon region until December 2007, which prevents the clearing of forest for new plantations.
A robust study carried out by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) mapped 31 million hectares in the Amazon region where oil palm can be grown in a totally sustainable way. Today, around 300,000 hectares are cultivated with the crop in Brazil, 75,000 of them by Grupo BBF in Roraima and Pará.
"We are in a position to take the lead from Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's biggest producers, who together cultivate palm on 22 million hectares. Brazil can plant this crop on 31 million hectares, without cutting down a tree," he explained.

Employment and income to reduce deforestation

The Brazilian businessman also argued that preserving the Amazon rainforest depends on creating job and income opportunities for the local population, estimated by IBGE at 30 million people. "We will only stop the deforestation of the forest when we are able to offer decent jobs to this population," he said.
For him, palm oil production also contributes in this area, since the plant cannot be mechanized, which generates jobs and income for local communities. Today, Grupo BBF employs around 6,000 direct workers and 18,000 indirect workers in the five states where it operates: Pará, Roraima, Rondônia, Amazonas and Acre.

Decarbonization of the aviation sector

Steagall often says that Grupo BBF works "from seed to megawatt", because as well as planting palm, the company processes the oil and transforms it into biofuels to generate renewable energy in remote regions of the Amazon and also produces inputs that replace petrochemicals in products for various sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, beauty, agribusiness and cleaning.
From 2026, the company is due to start supplying SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) and Green Diesel (RD) to Vibra Energia (formerly BR Distribuidora) - under an offtaker contract. The raw material for the advanced biofuels will be palm oil grown by Grupo BBF in the Amazon region. Refining will be carried out at the first biorefinery in the country to produce the unprecedented biofuels on an industrial scale. More than R＄ 2.2 billion will be invested in the new plant, which will have the capacity to produce around 500 million liters of SAF and Green Diesel annually.

Brazil Economic Forum

Held in Zurich, the Brazil Economic Forum brings together businesspeople and public officials to discuss key issues in the country's economic development. In addition to Steagall, the CEO of Amaro Aviation, Marcos Amaro, took part in the panel "Brazil's commitments to the ESG", which was moderated by Veja journalists Maurício Lima and José Roberto Caetano.

About Grupo BBF

Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels), a Brazilian company founded in 2008, is the largest palm oil producer in Latin America, with a cultivated area of over 75,000 hectares and a production capacity of 200,000 tons of oil per year. The company is a pioneer in creating sustainable solutions for generating renewable energy in isolated systems, with thermoelectric plants powered by biofuels produced in the region. Its agricultural activity recovers areas that were degraded until 2007 in the Amazon, following the Oil Palm Agroecological Zoning (ZAE), approved by Decree 7.172 of the Federal Government, of May 7, 2010.
Grupo BBF has created an integrated business model in which it operates from the beginning to the end of the value chain - from sustainable oil palm cultivation, crude oil extraction, biofuel production, biotechnology and renewable energy generation - with assets totaling around R$2.2 billion and activities generating around 6,000 direct jobs in the northern region of Brazil. Grupo BBF 's operations are located in the states of Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, Roraima and Pará, comprising 38 thermoelectric plants (25 in operation and 13 under implementation), 3 oil palm crushing units, a soybean extruder and a biodiesel industry.
The company is expanding its biofuel offer and has signed partnerships for the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and Green Diesel. The new sustainable fuels will be produced from 2026 at the country's first Biorefinery, which is currently under construction in the Manaus Free Trade Zone.

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