Market News

SunOpta Unveils Plan for Ethanol Plant

A Brampton, Ont.-based distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods has set its sights on building the first commercial plant for producing ethanol from biomass. According to a report in the Toronto Star, the company has ambitions to become a major producer of "cellulosic" ethanol made from wheat straw and wood waste and will open a five-million litre a year commercial demonstration plant in Spain later this year. As the market for biofuels heats up—Canada, for instance, is expected to mandate that gasoline contain at least 5% ethanol by 2010—a number of companies are racing to build commercial ethanol plants. www.sunopta.com Source: Canadian Grocer E-Newsletter, August 11, 2006.