Brazil disburses $167m to ethanol mills in response to drought

In Brazil, ethanol mills will be the beneficiaries of $167 million worth of subsidies as the country seeks to mitigate the effects of the worst drought in five decades. The government authorized the subsidies in May, but just published a notice regarding disbursement of the funds. Companies in the northeast region will be eligible for 20 centavos of funds for every liter of fuel they produced from 2011- 2012. “If we don’t intervene then there’s going to be supply problem” for ethanol in the region, said Cid Jorge Caldas, director of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food Supply.

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