With gasoline prices rising, ethanol sales rose more than 20% in February | National Magazine

From the purest fuels to the most common, inflation doesn’t discourage anyone. It becomes increasingly difficult to keep up with the rotation of the fuel pump. The driver is about to give up.

• The war in Ukraine puts pressure on oil prices on the international market

“It’s a very complicated situation because there are people who also depend on the application. And the job is not easy either. And what’s more, in this critical scenario we live in”, says Tiago Cordero de Paiva, the application driver.

To gain strength, he chose ethanol. Is this last month, Biofuels have gained a competitive advantage. On average for the country, the cost started 67.9% of the value of gasoline. A drop of more than 1 percentage point from January to March and about 10 percentage points in six months, in accounts sugar cane industry associationa.

Drowned in recent heights, the consumer responded quickly. Hit the sale of hydro ethanol in plants in Central and South 1.11 billion liters In February, 26.2% more than in January.

“The beauty of this market is the consumer, who dominates this market. He is always on the lookout for the cheapest fuel. Sometimes ethanol is the cheapest fuel for him, and other times, gasoline is the cheapest fuel,” explains Technical Director of the Sugar Cane Industry Association ( Unica), Antonio de Baidoa Rodriguez.

This discussion goes beyond the gasoline and ethanol market. Because, according to economists, the cost of transportation affects all sectors of the economy. Fuel was already very expensive in Brazil when the war in Ukraine raised the price of oil on the international market. The recent decrease in the movement of gas stations is a clear indication of the decline in economic activity.

“Because we use a lot of products to move and deliver goods. So here it fell, and everything fell,” says José Alberto Gouveia, president of Sincopetro.

Ethanol’s price advantage may be short-lived because it does not escape the pressure on diesel that drives transportation of sugarcane.

“You just have to think that a significant part of the goods operated in Brazil is transported by trucks that use diesel oil. In this way, you can think that the cost of moving goods from the south to the north, for example, will be affected by the increase in the cost of fuel. The oil price will inevitably see a series of sectors affected by this, and then ultimately the consumer will pay the bill,” explains Economist and Professor at FGV Mauro Rochlin.