by Gustavo Bonato and Caroline Stauffer (Reuters) Low corn prices in Brazil following a bumper crop are worrying farmers but providing favorable margins for an incipient corn-ethanol industry, said the manager of Usimat, the first Brazilian mill to produce the corn-based biofuel.
Usimat, located in a remote, corn-producing part of Mato Grosso state in central Brazil, plans to increase corn-based ethanol output to 100,000 tonnes this year from 67,000 tonnes last year.
Sergio Barbieri, the mill manager, currently is buying corn for 15 reais ($6.73) per bag, and says it is more profitable to use the grain than to buy sugarcane at up to 18 reais per bag.
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Usimat produces ethanol with sugarcane from April until November and switches to corn for the remaining months, allowing it to operate 340 days out of the year, Barbieri said. READ MORE and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine)