Latin America prepares for prosperity, sparked by biofuel boom

[jpak]

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=271682007

INTERNATIONAL maize prices, driven up by the burgeoning US ethanol biofuel industry, have soared to their highest in a decade, making farmers in Mexico, Brazil and Argentina feel as if they have just won the jackpot.

Maize languished at about £1 a bushel for years, before the ethanol boom sent the price rocketing to £2.26 this month.

<snip>

Meanwhile, Mexico is also in the top ten. Farmer Rogelio Zacaula grows his newly valuable crop in the shadow of the Orizaba volcano, and he's a man in a good mood.

"I have never seen prices like this," said Mr Zacaula, 66, who has been growing maize since he was ten. "We suffered for so many years, years in which no-one even wanted to buy our crop - until now."

<more>