A 4.5. How is sugar-cane paid for in So Paulo State?
Sugar-cane can be grown either by the industrial plant itself in owned or leased lands or through farming companies related to the same business group or third parties, usually natural persons, who are referred to as sugar cane suppliers. Sugar-cane suppliers always sell their production to the processing plants located near their rural property because of two factors: 1. Sugar-cane quality deteriorates if it takes too long to deliver it (refer to question 4.1); and 2. Excessive long-haul transportation costs. Such fact winds up limiting the number of plants which whom suppliers can negotiate their production. In order to prevent an unbalance in that relationship, a joint work conducted by the association that represents So Paulo-based sugar-cane suppliers (Orplana Organization of Sugar-cane Growers of Brazils Center-South Region) and the association that represents So Paulo-based sugar and ethanol industries (Unica Sugar-Cane Industrys Union) created a system in 1999, for free adoptio
