Brazil's South Chases Corn Ethanol as Sugarcane-based Ethanol Competitiveness Declines

CORDOBA, ARGENTINA--February 28, 2024--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--On the sidelines of the UN COP 28 summit held in Dubai at the end of last year, Brazilian sugarcane industry association Unica and foreign trade entity ApexBrasil signed a deal to invest R$19.5 million (US$3.9 million) to position ethanol as a key solution in decarbonizing transportation globally and help countries reach net-zero emissions by 2050. This comes as Brazil continues to consolidate itself as the world's second-largest ethanol producer, having reached 31.2 billion liters in the 2022-23 harvest.

While most of corn-based ethanol production in Brazil up until now has been centered in the states of Mato Grosso (69%) and Mato Grosso do Sul (19%), several companies in the south of the country have started to implement the construction or planning of grassroot cereal-ethanol plants.