Senate approves direct sale of ethanol from producers to gas stations

The Senate Plenary approved this Tuesday night (19/06), by 47 votes to 2, the Legislative Decree Project 61/2018, which allows the sale of ethanol directly from the producer to gas stations. The matter goes to the Chamber. 

The project by senator Otto Alencar (PSD-BA) suspends an article from resolution of the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) on the supply and sale of fuel ethanol, which determines that the supplier can only sell the ethanol to another supplier registered with the ANP, to a distributor authorized by the agency or to the external market.

"Today, plants producing ethanol to serve the domestic market have their sales restricted to other suppliers registered with the ANP or to a restricted group of distributors authorized by the agency, which practically monopolize the supply of ethanol to gas stations", explained the senator.

For Alencar, limiting negotiation prevents free trade and produces economic inefficiency. The institutional crisis caused by truck drivers' strikes against the rise in fuel prices, according to Otto Alencar, gave rise to the need for changes in the sector's marketing policy.

"The producers' claim does not aim to take over the distributors' market, but rather the opportunity to also sell ethanol, without middlemen", he said.