Oct 31, 2022
Corn Accounts for 15% of Brazil's Ethanol, Could be 20% by 2030
Author: Michael Cordonnier/Soybean & Corn Advisor, Inc.
Corn ethanol production continues to expand in Brazil and corn ethanol will account for about 15% of Brazil's total ethanol production in 2022. Brazil is expected to produce 30 to 32 billion liters of ethanol in 2022 with approximately 5 billion coming from corn. The amount of corn ethanol production is expected to increase to 20% or more of Brazil's total ethanol production by at least 2030 according to the National Union of Corn Ethanol (UNEM).
Latin America has 30 corn ethanol facilities (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Bolivia) with 18 of those facilities in Brazil. The state of Mato Grosso has the most facilities at 10 followed by Mato Grosso do Sul, and Goias. In Mato Grosso, six of the facilities utilize exclusively corn to produce ethanol. Currently, there are 9 more facilities under construction including in northern and northeastern Brazil.
Brazil's corn ethanol facilities include facilities that utilize only corn and a number of sugar mills have been retrofitted and expanded to utilize corn during the summer rainy season when sugarcane is not available. These facilities would normally close for several months between December and March, but since they have been retrofitted to utilize corn, they operate year-round.