Brazil May Boost Ethanol Content

Cindy Zimmerman

Bloomberg is reporting that Brazil is considering raising the ethanol content in the country’s gasoline to 25 percent to help increase sugar prices as producers harvest a record cane crop.

According to the article, Brazil’s government, which has held talks with ethanol producers over the past weeks on raising the biofuel content in gasoline, hasn’t said whether it will adopt the increase. The current blend of ethanol in Brazilian fuel is 20 percent.

That talk has already led to a rise in sugar futures this week, according to another Bloomberg report. Raw sugar was up 4-6 percent on Wednesday, the biggest gains in two weeks. Sugar had dropped below 10 cents a pound Monday, but was back up above 11.5 cents on Wednesday.

Ethanol, International