Inpasa, a corn ethanol producer, opens a new plant in Brazil

Inpasa, a corn ethanol producer in Brazil's Bahia State, announced?that it had started operating at its new facility. It aims to produce 470 million liters of biofuel per year.

In an interview, Gustavo Mariano said that the plant was now operational and the company would have a supply within a few days.

In recent years, corn ethanol production has increased dramatically in Brazil. This is a long-controlled industry by sugarcane farmers.

Inpasa, which has plants in Paraguay & Brazil,?has expanded rapidly.

Oil prices are soaring due to the war in the Middle East that began in February, when Israel and the U.S. launched an attack against Iran.

Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil company, announced on Thursday that it would increase its supplies of gasoline and diesel to customers by April due to fears about supply.

Brazil's current government mandates that all gasoline in the country be blended with 30 percent ethanol. However, millions of cars are equipped with engines capable of running solely on ethanol.

Mariano stated that the plant would ramp up from zero to its full capacity within a three-day period, allowing for new ethanol to enter the market quickly.

Mariano stated that "this is an opportune time... to be able?to contribute to the market, to consumers, to distributors' supply, bringing these new capacities at a greater need."

According to Inpasa, the investment in the new plant was 1.3 billion reais (about $247.6 millions). This brings the total number of sites operated by Inpasa to eight.

The plant will also produce 245,000 metric tonnes of DDGS (corn ethanol byproduct), which is used as animal feed.

Inpasa anticipates that two more ethanol plants will be operational in Goias, and Mato Grosso.

(source: Reuters)