Brazil re-tunes ethanol, biodiesel blending policies

In Brazil, the country’s national energy regulator ANP is going to hire a biodiesel certification expert to help establish the direction of the country’s blending policy. The agency is getting calls to approve blends of 30% to 40% but there are concerns that level is too high for the national fleet. The National biodiesel producers association is saying an ideal blend would be 7% which is set to come into force in 2012.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to keep the national ethanol blend at 25%, for now, but will reassess the situation in two weeks. Ethanol prices had begun to fall with the on-set of the new sugarcane crushing season but the past few weeks the price trend has reversed slightly. Ethanol consumption in June was down 15% on the year and hydrous ethanol use is currently only economically feasible in five Brazilian states.