PRIMAVERA DO LESTE, BRAZIL — FS, one of Brazil’s leading ethanol and feed producers, began operations on May 1 at its third corn ethanol plant, located in the municipality of Primavera do Leste, Mato Grosso, where it will produce 160 million gallons of ethanol and 570,000 tonnes of dried distillers grains (DDG) annually.

The plant will use 1.3 million tonnes of corn annually, where it also will produce 18,000 tonnes of corn oil and 191 megawatts of electricity in addition to ethanol and DDG.

FS spent BRL 1.9 billion ($378.54 million) on the project, coming in under its initial outlay of BRL 2.3 billion ($458.23 million) through cost optimization, the company said in its May 29 announcement. Construction generated 8,000 indirect jobs and 205 direct jobs operating the plant.

“We were able to work efficiently and overcome the supply chain challenges to start operations 30 days earlier than originally planned,” said Rafael Abud, chief executive officer of FS. “Primavera do Leste is a truly important region for FS due to its large supply of corn, and its strategic location for distributing our products.”

Headquartered in São Paulo, FS is the first ethanol firm in Brazil that uses corn in 100% of its production. With its three units located in Lucas do Rio Verde, Sorriso and Primavera do Leste, all within the state of Mato Grosso, the company has the capacity to produce around 560 million gallons of ethanol per year. FS intends to continue its expansion in Mato Grosso with the goal of producing more than 1 billion gallons of ethanol annually by 2026.

With 47% of the country’s second-season, or safrinha, corn production, the state of Mato Grosso is an agricultural powerhouse, according to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture. Overall Brazilian corn production continues to exceed expectations, with another record-breaking harvest projected at 133 million tonnes in marketing year 2023-24.

According to the National Corn Ethanol Union (UNEM), Brazil is expected to produce 6 billion liters of corn ethanol during the 2023-24 season, which runs from April to March in Brazil. According to the National Corn Ethanol Union (UNEM), Brazil is expected to produce 6 billion liters (1.58 billion gallons) of corn ethanol during the 2023-24 season, which runs from April to March in Brazil. This represents an increase of almost 37% in relation to the previous season and will lead to a rise in total consumption during 2023-24.