Argentina's energy ministry Friday authorized increases in ethanol prices for oil refiners to blend into gasoline, effective August 1.
Refiners must pay Peso 13.335/liter (90 cents/liter) for supplies of sugarcane-derived ethanol this month to meet a 12% blend requirement in gasoline, the ministry said.
That is up 38.5% from Peso 9.628 in August 2015 and 2.3% more than Peso 13.042//liter in July.
Corn-based ethanol prices were raised 70% to Peso 12.555/liter in August from Peso 7.402/liter in August 2015, and were increased 0.7% from Peso 12.473/liter in July, it said.
The biggest oil refiner is state-run YPF, trailed by Axion Energy, Shell, Oil Combustibles and Pampa Energia.
Argentina's ethanol production rose 15.7% year on year to 196,720 mt in the first quarter, while consumption rose 8.3% to 212,665 mt, according to the latest energy ministry data.
