Peter Buzzanell, president of Peter Buzzanell & Associates in Reston, Virginia, said programs to produce fuel ethanol from sugar have been prompted by a number of interests in a number of countries.

First, Buzzanell said, ``Ethanol provides an alternative use for sugar crops, particularly important in markets where sugar consumption per person is unlikely to grow any further.''

Second, ``Ethanol, as an alternative fuel, reduces dependence on imported oil and improves balance of trade flows.''

Third, ``Ethanol aids in improving air quality and avoids problems associated with MTBE and groundwater pollution.'' MTBE, an oxygenate blended with gasoline to improve octane and reduce harmful air emissions, has been found to pollute groundwater wherever it is stored. A growing number of American states are banning MTBE use, and other countries are expected to follow suit.

Fourth, Buzzanell concluded, ``Ethanol provides an additional technological component to a country's agro-industrial sector and provides an additional revenue stream to the sugar industry.''

Buzzanell described in some detail the sugar ethanol programs of major sugar producers Australia, Brazil, India, and Thailand and noted the potential for programs in other areas, including Europe and North America.

In the same panel, entitled ``Global Surplus Sugar Disposal: An Ethanol Update,'' Roger Listenberger, vice president of ethanol sales for Archer Daniels Midland in Decatur, Illinois, and John Nichols, president of Almidones Mexicanos, Guadalajara, Mexico, provided information on ethanol usage in the United States and on the potential for increased sugar ethanol use in Mexico.

The American Sugar Alliance is a national coalition of growers, processors and refiners of sugarbeets, sugarcane and corn for sweetener.

For more information about U.S. sugar policy visit American Sugar Alliance at http://www.sugaralliance.org .