Ethanol up 18% in March, while gasoline posts 12% increase and nears R$6 a liter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In March, there was a double-digit increase in the price of fuels most used in automobiles at service stations. According to the Ticket Log Price Index (IPTL), ethanol had a 17.97% increase last month in relation to February, reaching the average price of R$4.599 per liter. Gasoline rose 12.06%, to R$5.717.

The survey conducted in the first half of March found that ethanol had surpassed the R$4.00 mark. By the end of the month, the fuel was found at the highest average price in the South Region, R$4.774.

For gasoline, the most expensive average price was registered in the Midwest Region, at R$5.800, and the cheapest was in the South, at R$5.528.

“For both fuels, the Southeast Region presented the largest price increase. Ethanol was up 21.47% at gas stations, and gasoline by 13.14%,” says Douglas Pina, Head of Urban Market at Edenred Brazil, parent company of Ticket Log.

Among the states, Acre has the most expensive gasoline in the country, and registered a 12.44% increase in prices, at R$6.166 a liter. Amapá had the cheapest gasoline, at R$5.285, after the average price advanced 14.87%. The highest increase was registered in Roraima, up 15.69%.

The lowest average price for ethanol was found in São Paulo, at R$3.904. The value is 20.94% above the one registered in February. Rio Grande do Sul had the highest price, at R$5.323, after a 17.20% increase. The Federal District registered the highest increase, of 23.59%.

“When comparing the price of gasoline in March with the price registered in December, it is possible to notice a trajectory of consecutive increases throughout the surveys carried out in these first months of the year, which resulted in an average price per liter that was 22% higher. If the same comparison is made with ethanol, the increase in the period is 24%,” says Pina.

The IPTL is a fuel price index that is based on the fuel purchases made at Ticket Log’s 18,000 accredited service stations, which manages 1 million, with an average of eight transactions per second.

Source: Infomoney