SAO PAULO (Dow Jones)--Brazilians should consume around 1.7 billion liters of ethanol from Brazil's main center-south sugarcane region in February, up 30% from a year ago, said the Sao Paulo Sugarcane Industries Association, or Unica, late Tuesday.
"This (year-on-year) increase in February will be due to the growing fleet of flex-fuel vehicles," Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, crop specialist at Unica, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Flex-fuel cars can switch between regular gasoline and ethanol.
Rodrigues said that ethanol remains competitively priced against gasoline in most Brazilian states, so drivers continue to fill-up with the alternative fuel.
Rodrigues said that ethanol consumption from Brazil's center-south region in February will be lower than the 1.8-billion liters consumed in January, mainly due to the month having fewer days.
Unica said that domestic ethanol consumption in January rose 31.8% compared to January 2008, because of the high number of flex-fuel cars. Domestic ethanol consumption in January, however, dipped 3% versus December due to the seasonal impact of the holiday period, he said.
Rodrigues expects that domestic ethanol consumption from Brazil's central-south sugarcane crop should reach 22 billion liters in 2009 versus 20 billion liters in 2008.
Ethanol exports from the center-south region are likely to dip around 1 billion liters this year from 4.2 billion liters in 2008, he said.
Brazil is the world's largest producer and exporter of sugarcane-based ethanol.
-By Tony Danby; Dow Jones Newswires; 55-11-2847-4523; brazil@dowjones.com