Ethanol protects consumers against rising oil prices, highlight Unica, Unem and Bioenergia Brasil.

The bioenergy sector begins the 2026/2027 harvest with a projected record ethanol production, adding almost 4 billion liters to the market—a volume nearly equivalent to the total gasoline imported by Brazil in 2025. The announcement, according to a statement from Bioenergia Brasil, the National Union of Corn Ethanol (UNEM), and the Union of the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry (UNICA), comes at a time of increasing volatility in international oil prices and reaffirms ethanol's ability to protect Brazilian consumers without subsidies and without impacting public finances. The three entities reaffirm that ethanol is not an emergency response, but a structure that Brazil took decades to build—and which today offers consumers a real alternative to oil, with market competitiveness and 100% national production. The model has a concrete dimension in the country's fuel matrix. Ethanol—hydrated and anhydrous—already represents more than 30 billion liters of gasoline equivalent. In addition to increasing energy security, biofuel has remained below 73% parity with gasoline in most of the consumer market in recent years, generating R$ 5 billion in savings by 2025 and more than R$ 140 billion accumulated since the introduction of flex-fuel vehicles, with greater gains during periods of high oil prices. This result is the fruit of a consistent trajectory of long-term public policies: from Proálcool in the 1970s to the recent expansion of the mandatory ethanol blend in gasoline from 27% to 30%, passing through the Fuel of the Future Program, the Mover program, and the strengthening of RenovaBio. This environment of regulatory predictability has allowed for a 30% growth in the sector's production capacity in recent years, with more than 20 new plants with construction notices registered with the ANP—generating jobs, strengthening the economy, and guaranteeing Brazilian consumers a competitive fuel supply alternative, as well as greater energy security in an increasingly uncertain international scenario.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.