The year of 2009 was marked by strong activity in Brazil’s sugar-alcohol industry. After a deep crisis in the previous year, when companies suffered with credit restriction, several of them saw their balance sheets recovery in a scenario of permanent increase in the domestic demand for ethanol. In spite of the changes, environmental and social liabilities still taint the industry. Important initiatives in 2009, such as sugarcane zoning and the labour commitment signed by companies, still depend of a series of proceedings to be enforced.
