It was previously a sugarcane plantation located in Jaboatão that, in 1895, was transformed into a meio-aparelho (a transition between a plantation and a factory).
Only in 1906 was it totally remodelled, becoming a sugarcane factory.
In 1929 it had 27km of railway that connected to the Great Western line, four locomotives and 44 wagons (from 8 to 10 tonnes). It had the capacity to process 400 tonnes of sugarcane and manufacture 3,000 litres of ethanol in 22 hours.
During the milling, around 200 workers were employed at the factory. The transportation of sugarcane and firewood was by its own railway and trucks, and the sugar and ethanol production by the Great Western line and trucks as well.
The factory had several owners: the Bulhões family; Guimarães Oliveira & Co.; Pessoa, Maranhão & Co.; and José Queiroz (1946-1982).
In 1982 it was sold to Agropecuária Jaime Beltrão (Jaime Beltrão Livestock). In 1990, the group divided and the factory came under the ownership of
Roberto Lacerda Beltrão, the son of Jaime Beltrão.
Today the Bulhões factory has eleven fields with a capacity to produce 200,000 tonnes of sugarcane.
Recife, 7 August 2003.
(Updated on 9 September 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, January 2012.
sources consulted
ANDRADE, Manuel Correia de. História das usinas de açúcar de Pernambuco. Recife: FJN. Ed. Massangana, 1989. 114 p. (República, v.1)
GONÇALVES & SILVA, O assucar e o algodão em Pernambuco. Recife: [s.n.], 1929. 90 p.
MOURA, Severino. Senhores de engenho e usineiros, a nobreza de Pernambuco. Recife: Fiam, CEHM, Sindaçúcar, 1998. 320 p. (Tempo municipal, 17).
how to quote this text
Source: GASPAR, Lúcia. Bulhões Sugarcane Factory. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <http://basilio.fundaj.gov.br/pesquisaescolar/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009