Brazil corn-based ethanol producers have enough supplies -farmer-backed group

Brazilian corn-based ethanol producers in Mato Grosso state are not expected to have problems sourcing the raw material even if China starts buying corn from Brazil this year, farmer-backed research group Imea said on Monday.

Mato Grosso producers have placed corn orders in advance, said Cleiton Gauer, Imea’s superintendent.

While the farmer group does not anticipate supply issues after China and Brazil agreed on a trade protocol to export corn, corn demand from the Asian country may change Mato Grosso’s price outlook going forward.

“The impact on the price of corn will depend a lot on the volume that the Chinese are going to buy,” Gauer told Reuters during an event in Sao Paulo.

Mato Grosso’s second corn area grew by about 50% over the past five years, according to corn ethanol lobby Unem, attracting corn-based ethanol plants to the region.

Second corn, planted after soybeans are harvested in the same areas, represent 70-75% of national corn production in a given year.

Brazilian corn ethanol production in the 2022/23 harvest, which started in April, should reach 4.5 billion liters, an increase of 31% compared with the previous season, according to Unem.

Most of Brazil’s supplies of corn ethanol will come from Mato Grosso.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nayara Figueiredo in Sao Paulo Writing by Ana Mano Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)