Vegetable oil production in Brazil

Abstract

From this short description it may be concluded that in Brazil there already exist good factories for the extraction of cottonseed oil by the American process, good refineries and factories for vegetable butter and similar products, and that it would be in the interests of American capitalists to study the possibilities of this industry in Brazil. In 1928 Brazil exported oleaginous seeds to the value of 71,835 contos, and 733 contos' worth of vegetable oils. However, as the Government of Brazil is kennly interested in the exploitation of the nuts and seeds, the Secretary of Agriculture has been able to obtain from the Federal Congress the necessary means for the installation of a laboratory for the specialized study of oils and their sub-products. This laboratory forms part of the Escola Superior de Agriculture, a Federal institution, and its equipment, with the exception of the Zeiss material, was purchased in the United States. It possesses all the apparatus necessary for the control of oils, fats, waxes, and resins, and for research work on those products. Besides the departments of analysis and research, it has an industrial department, in which there will be installed within the next two months the most modern equipment of American manufacture for the extraction of cottonseed oil by the American process and of oil from other seeds rich in fat (coconut, babassu, and other nuts), and for the manufacture of soaps and other articles. The Government has also inaugurated a specialized course in vegetable oils and derivatives; this will be the first post-graduate-course established in Brazil for chemists and agriculturists who have received their degrees in the agricultural colleges and other university institutions of the country. The material already acquired by the oils laboratory is valued at some $43,000, but the Government proposes to complete the installation with apparatus for essential oils, the extraction of glycerine, and the manufacture of candles and other articles. There could be no greater evidence of the confidence felt by the Government and people of Brazil in the future of its vegetable oil industry.