Brazil's ethanol makers are ready to raise output if the government hikes the legal mix of anhydrous ethanol blended with gasoline from 30% ​to 32% this year, industry figures said, adding that production is heading towards ‌a record.

Brazil's government wants to raise the ethanol blend to 32% in the first half of the year, the country's Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira said this week, amid higher costs for fossil ​fuels as oil prices surge following conflict in Iran.

"It's an excellent moment for ​this decision, because we are at the start of the harvest … mills ⁠are in the early phase of defining their production mix," Mauricio Muruci, a sugar ​and ethanol analyst at consultancy Safras & Mercado, told Reuters. - Reuters