Brazilian hydrous ethanol sales rise 16.2% on year in 2019: ANP

Sao Paulo — Brazilian standalone biofuel E100 consumption totaled 22.54 billion liters in 2019, an increase of 16.2% compared with 19.39 billion liters in 2018, according to the National Petroleum Agency (ANP).

The growth rate was due to the price advantage E100 held over gasoline, Felipe Kury, an ANP director, said Tuesday.

In southeastern Brazil, the country's main fuel consuming region, the average price of hydrous ethanol compared with gasoline in 2019 was 64.21%, compared with an average of 2018 of 64.14%, however the difference between the two years was a more stable price ratio at the pump throughout the year.

While in the first quarter of 2018, hydrous ethanol averaged 70.4% of the price of gasoline, in the same period in 2019, it averaged 64.5% of its fossil fuel-based rival, proving that even during the sugarcane inter-crop season in Center-South Brazil – which runs from January to March – hydrous ethanol could be competitive with gasoline, building a more consistent consumption pattern for the biofuel.

For consumers with flex-fuel vehicles, hydrous ethanol offers an economic advantage over gasoline when its price is 70% or less than that of gasoline, based on its lower fuel economy.

In 2019, sales of flex-fuel vehicles comprised 87.4% of total light vehicle sales, according to the latest data from Anfavea, the Brazilian automotive manufacturers trade association.

Sales of anhydrous ethanol, which is used in Brazil as a 27% blend in the gasoline A, decreased 0.6% year on year in line with a decline in consumption of Gasoline C, which is blended with anhydrous, according to ANP data.

Brazil's GDP is expected to expand by 2.2% in 2020 as Latin America's largest economy embarks on a fourth-consecutive year of economic growth that should once again lift consumption of refined products such as diesel, gasoline and hydrous ethanol, added Kury.