Taking a major step in its ongoing program to privatize state-owned industries, the Brazilian government has successfully auctioned off a majority share of one of its largest petrochemical complexes, Companhia Petroquimica do Sul (Copesul), to a number of unidentified buyers. Further chemical company auctions are planned during the next two years. The Copesul auction on May 15 brought $805 million, 30% higher than the minimum price set by the National Privatization Commission, which coordinates the program. Copesul drew the second highest price so far in the government's ongoing privatization program. Topping the list is Usiminas, the formerly state-owned steel company, which was auctioned last October for $1.47 billion. The petrochemical complex is located at Triunfo in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its naphtha cracker unit has a capacity to produce 600,000 tons of ethylene per year. It includes plants for butadiene extraction and for methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE); a plant for benzene, ...