Argentina's Energy Ministry authorized Monday a year-on-year increase in ethanol prices for oil refiners to blend into gasoline in March.
Refiners must pay Peso 14.114/liter ($0.91/liter) for supplies of sugarcane-derived ethanol this month to meet a 12% blend requirement in gasoline, the ministry said. That's up 29.3% from Peso 10.915/liter in the year-earlier month and 5% more than Pesos 13.442/liter in February.
The price of corn-based ethanol prices was raised 42.6% to Peso 13.452/liter in March from Pesos 9.431/liter in March 2016, and was cut 0.4% from Peso 13.510/liter in February, it added.
The biggest oil refiner is state-run YPF, trailed by Axion Energy, Shell, Oil Combustibles and Pampa Energia.
Ethanol production rose 19.1% on the year to 85,736 mt in December, while consumption shot up 20.4% to 92,932 mt in December from 77,171 mt in December 2015, according to the latest Energy Ministry data.
