“The agreement is for building the two factories,” which would start production in the crop year ending April 2012 when White Nile plans to begin sugar production, Satti said. The ethanol factory will have a capacity of 46 million litres a year and will use molasses, a byproduct from White Nile’s sugar production, Satti said. The animal-feed plant will produce 100.000 tonnes each year, he said. According to Satti Beijing-based China CAMC Engineering will start building the factories in January, upon arrival from a trip to China and India with Sudan’s Industry Minister Awad Ahmed al-Jazz. The trip also aimed to promote other planned projects by Kenana Sugar Co., which owns a 30 percent stake in White Nile, including Al-Sofeyya sugar factory, a sugar refinery and a port to export agricultural products to be built in the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, Satti said. There was “big interest” from a number of Chinese companies in these projects, with detailed talks scheduled to start in December in Sudan, Satti said. He declined to mention company names. The ethanol plant will be Sudan’s second producer of the biofuel. Sudan currently produces 65 million litres of ethanol per year, at Kenana, the country’s largest sugar producer, which plans to double its output to 130 million litres by 2013. The Sudanese parliament is expected to pass a law this year that would require fuel suppliers to sell gasoline locally containing 5 to 10pc biofuels starting next year.