Cape Town, South Africa 5-7 November 2007

The 2nd Annual Biofuels Markets Africa Conference and Exhibition took place in Cape Town on November 5th-7th and was once again a huge success attracting over 150 industry executives from 28 countries. It truly was the Pan-African event.

Key themes emerging from the conference were:

• The upcoming shift from a fossil fuel to a bio-energy based economy as biofuels have the opportunity to reduce Africa’s dependence on fossil fuels and improve the competitiveness of traditional fossil fuel based economies
• A clear sense of direction for investors in biofuels projects is required before large scale investment will take place
• The food versus fuel debate was extensively discussed during the conference. What was clear from the discussions was that whilst a very active debate on this topic is raging, not all the arguments are fully informed
• Developments in the European markets certainly impact on Africa. European producers are facing feedstock supply issues and are therefore not operating at full capacity and as such the opportunity for Africa in these developments should not be underestimated
• Due to the size and varying climatic conditions across Africa, many feedstock options are available to producers. The question of which feedstock is the best will vary by region and country

To download the full conference report on the proceedings from the Biofuels Markets Africa conference held in Cape Town last month pleasesimply fill in the short form below. We hope you find this independently prepared report a useful reminder of the discussions.