Located in the municipality of Rio Formoso, on the limits of Água Preta and Barreiros, it was founded in 1913 by Manoel de Brito.
In 1929, when it was owned by Miguel Octávio de Melo, the factory had the capacity to work 150 tonnes of sugarcane and produce 2,500 litres of ethanol in 22 hours. It did not have a railway. The transportation of sugarcane, sugar and ethanol was done by animals and trucks.
In the milling period around 300 workers were employed at the factory, with minors and women not being allowed to be employed. It had only two fields, where the most-cultivated varieties of sugarcane were manteiga (‘butter’), demerara, caiará and pitú.
Its workers’ village was small and did not have a school or beneficiary associations for its employees.
Later the factory was sold to Jaime da Silva Loyo. Due to lack of financial support, it had problems and was then bought by the Othon Bezerra de Melo Group, its current owners.
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,
how to quote this text
Source: GASPAR, Lúcia. Santo André (St Andrew) Sugarcane Factory. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009