MT mills should not be at risk of raw material supply, even in the face of a scenario in which China starts importing Brazilian cereal later this year, as the industry's purchases have already been made in advance, he said this Monday. the superintendent of Imea, Cleiton Gauer.
The export from Brazil to the Chinese, which is being negotiated by the governments of both countries, tends to cause a spike in domestic prices of corn, but the ethanol sector would only feel this impact on purchases this year for the product that will be delivered in 2023.
“The impact on the price will depend a lot on the volume that the Chinese are going to buy,” he told Reuters during an event in São Paulo.
“With regard to supply, I don't see a problem, because what most industries process and operate now is corn bought in advance,” added a specialist from the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics.
The executive president of the National Corn Ethanol Union, Guilherme Nolasco, added that the negotiations of the plants for the acquisition of the cereal are made, in their majority, through fixed-term contracts.
“You cannot buy from hand to mouth, we need to have a minimum of predictability”, he said.
Gauer commented that it was the ethanol industry that brought this practice of advance purchases to the corn market in Mato Grosso, also contributing to the expansion of cereal production.
According to the president of Unem, in the last five years, the area of corn second crop grew by about 50% in Mato Grosso and part of this is due to the expansion of the mills in the biofuel.
Data from the entity that represents the plants indicate that the production of corn ethanol in Brazil in the 2022/23 harvest, which started in April, should reach 4.5 billion liters, an increase of 31% compared to the previous season, Mato Grosso gathers the most of the sector.
The volume of corn processed by the MT mills should also increase from 7.98 million tons, in the last harvest, to 10.38 million tons.
As a result, corn ethanol should increase its share in total biofuel production, from 12.5% to 15%.
The remaining slice corresponds to the product made from sugarcane.
“In the 2030/31 harvest, corn ethanol production will reach 9.6 billion liters and the share of total national ethanol production will be between 22% and 23%,” estimated Nolasco.
Currently, 18 plants process the cereal to manufacture the biofuel in Brazil.
Aware of the positive projections for the corn ethanol market, the biotechnology company Novozymes announced during an event that it will inaugurate at the end of this year, in Paraná, its first yeast plant to serve the biofuels market throughout Latin America.
Without revealing the value of the investment, the regional president of Novozymes for Latin America, William Yassumoto, told Reuters that yeast is a fundamental input for the production process of corn ethanol, used in the fermentation of the raw material.
“Until now, we had imported yeast to supply the mills… we are looking at a growing market,” said the executive, citing that the company already serves 18 mills.
The new plant will be installed in the municipality of Araucária, where the company already has enzyme production operations that are also supplied to corn ethanol manufacturers.
Sources: investing.com
