(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaica Broilers Group is yet to fully recover the US$42 million poured into its ethanol plant over eight years, but the poultry company has now decided to exit the market as a producer of the biofuel and is seeking a business partner to operate the facility under contract. Meantime, it is still costing the company around US$100,000 per month ($11.6m) to main the facility.
Jamaica Broilers is said to be fielding expressions of interest from both local and international sources for the complex that it built in 2007 and later expanded at Port Esquivel in St Catherine, and is willing to consider proposals that convert the asset to other energy-related uses as well as options to purchase the fuel terminal in the future. The dehydration plant operated through subsidiary JB Ethanol Limited has largely been idle for two or more years as the ethanol market softened and feedstock and tolling contracts dried up. Alongside the 120 million-gallon plant, JB Ethanol also manages a 25 million-gallon storage facility at Port Esquivel.
“We have been entertaining a number of players in terms of some kind of business arrangement relating to the terminal,” said senior vice-president for operations and finance at Jamaica Broilers, Ian Parsard. He said discussions are under way with players in the “broad petroleum industry”, and that the company is hoping to reach a deal soon on the terminal. Broilers itself would spend no money on the conversion. That would be the responsibility of the company that leases the plant, said Parsard
The group’s initial investment in the plant was US$25 million, with an additional US$17 million invested in a second stage of development. JB Ethanol produced fuel-grade ethanol from wet ethanol that it sourced from Brazil. “The full investment is US$42 million,” said Parsard. “Full recovery is not yet achieved. However, with a good lease contract, we should recover the full amount and make a surplus,” he said. Wednesday Business estimates that the company would have reaped close to US$22 million of profit from ethanol since the plant was commissioned.
Jamaica Broilers reported at half-year ending November 2014 that it made an operating loss of $144 million off $41 million of revenue on its ethanol division.
