Brazil Raises Ethanol Blend to 32% as Iran War Disrupts Global Fuel Markets

Brazil has pushed up the ethanol level in gasoline to 32% for a short six month window, leaning on its big domestic biofuel industry to reduce exposure to imported fuel, since the U.S.-Iran war is upsetting energy markets and making people more worried about supply routes coming through the Middle East.

The move, which was cleared by Brazil’s National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) on July 14, bumps the required blend of anhydrous ethanol in gasoline from 30% to 32%. This policy lasts 180 days and could be prolonged just one time, for the same length, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).

The move comes as hostilities touching the Strait of Hormuz and nearby regional energy assets have increased uncertainty around global oil and fuel deliveries. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said the conflict has thrown more weight on energy security worries, while markets for refined products like gasoline and diesel stay tighter than the ones for crude oil, more or less.

For Brazil, which is one of the world’s largest ethanol producers, the higher blend is supposed to nudge a long-running biofuel program into something of a buffer against an external supply shock. The MME estimates that E32 could trim annual gasoline import needs by about 900 million litres, so the country depends less on fossil fuels that are sourced abroad. That number is a government forecast rather than something already seen or observed in practice.

The policy also sort of underscores how the war has changed the economics behind Brazil’s energy strategy, a lot more than people may expect. A higher ethanol blend has long been promoted as a kind of support mechanism for the domestic sugarcane industry, and also to curb transport emissions. Now though with global oil flows under pressure, it is being framed as more than a green instrument, also, as a way to secure fuel availability and limit how much the country has to face price swings linked to the conflict.

For drivers the outcome may feel less clear cut. Ethanol carries less energy per litre than gasoline, so in some vehicles it can lower fuel economy. Still, the MME said tests that were coordinated by the ministry and carried out by the Instituto Mauá de Tecnologia looked at performance, drivability, cold starts, consumption and emissions in passenger cars and motorcycles. It is important that the assessment found no material impact from E32 compared with lower-ethanol blends, even in non-flex-fuel models.

In Brazil, the private vehicle fleet is predominantly made up of flex-fuel cars — a flex-fuel car is designed to run on gasoline, ethanol, or any mixture of the two, with its electronic control unit automatically adjusting fuel injection, ignition timing and other engine parameters according to the fuel composition

Even so, the higher blend is likely to keep the technical debate going, among owners of older vehicles and those who import cars independently, which may not have been really adapted, to Brazilian fuel specifications. Actual fuel usage can vary based on engine calibration and maintenance, driving circumstances and vehicle age, so the economic outcome is going to depend not only on the blend, but also on what you pay at the pump.

The government has stated that the larger ethanol share may help ease day to day fuel prices for the average consumer, but it has not promised any clear cut reduction at the service stations. Any real perk for drivers will hinge on the relative prices of ethanol versus gasoline, distribution expenses, and how the conflict-driven oil market volatility unfolds.

Brazil’s experience with ethanol gives it a bit of that flexibility that many oil-importing places do not have. Still the E32 measure also shows the limits of that advantage, because even if domestic biofuels can reduce import requirements, Brazil remains exposed, to international oil prices and to disruption across global markets for refined products.

Since the war keeps testing shipping and energy infrastructure around the Strait of Hormuz, Brazil’s ethanol policy has started to function as more than a climate plus farming initiative. It is turning into, a sort of quick energy-security response to a conflict whose effects are reaching well beyond the Middle East, and people are noticing it.

Brazil: J&F Investimentos Expands Biomethane Production to Replace Diesel at Friboi Plants

Brazilian energy firm Âmbar Energia, which is a unit from J&F Investimentos, said Monday that it plans to invest 65 million reais ( $11.5 million ) to enlarge its biomethane output using industrial leftovers at three meat processing facilities.  

Under the plan, the company expects to bring in over 14 million cubic meters of renewable fuel each year into its energy mix, and in the process it will swap fossil fuels for operations run by Friboi, the beef division inside J&F.  

This effort sort of builds on biodigesters already put in place at nine Friboi plants since 2021, meant to catch methane coming from industrial effluent. Before, that methane was essentially burned off or flared to avoid a direct atmospheric release. Now, the biogas will be purified into biomethane so it can line up with national fuel standards.

When we looked at this investment, we kind of saw a chance because Friboi had already put in the biodigesters to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and honestly that part was important. The gas was being burned, and now we can handle it properly, sort of taking care of it by removing the CO₂ and H₂S components, then we transform it into biomethane, said Marcelo Dresch, Âmbar’s sustainability and biogas manager.

The first upgraded unit, Campo Grande II in Mato Grosso do Sul, will add a second production machine in August. The plant, which has had the basic infrastructure in place for around three years, will end up energy self-sufficient, more or less.

“The first machine already supplies about 80% of the plant’s natural gas requirements. With the second, it becomes fully self-sustaining , and we will have a surplus that can be offered and sold to third parties,” Dresch said.

As for timing, the Andradina unit in São Paulo state is set to start operations in January 2027, while the Lins plant, also in São Paulo, is expected to begin production in January 2028.

Âmbar estimates that the annual output will end up replacing about 12 million liters of diesel, and also prevent something like 30,000 tonnes of CO₂ each year.  

The company is additionally looking at using part of the biomethane output for J&F’s logistics work, especially the heavy transport side, and in doing so, tying the fuel to group activities, including Green Cargo. Green Cargo leases and sells natural gas and biomethane powered trucks, and Logás manages fuel logistics in places where pipeline infrastructure isn’t available, or it’s limited.  

“The plan is to build a kind of connected loop, where waste made by industrial activities turns into fuel again inside the own production chain,” Dresch said.  

Âmbar is also examining waste streams from other J&F operations, such as the poultry processor Seara, and the residue coming from cattle feedlots, for future biomethane ventures.

Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) Pricing Distortion Raises Fears of Post-Election Inflation Shock

Petrobras, Brazil’s state run oil giant, is dealing with a bigger and bigger mismatch between what people pay at home for fuel and what crude costs on the global market, with Middle East geopolitical tensions helping shove Brent crude toward the $120 per barrel area.

In the meantime, market analysts and economists say the Brazilian government is relying on subsidies and political leverage, basically holding the line on prices right now ahead of October’s decisive election, but there’s a coming “inflationary shock” after the votes, something that could hit hard once the post election period starts.

The Subsidy Shield

As of late July, the federal government has kept up pretty substantial subsidies to help keep pump prices steady. Based on the latest market data, the government is still providing something like 0.44 reais per liter for gasoline, and 1.12 reais per liter for diesel.

Even though these steps ease the immediate consumer pain, they also start to generate a larger fiscal strain, plus an inflationary mismatch that is hard to ignore. One thign is certains, no one in Brazil expects a fuel price hike before the elections. 

Widening Parity Gap

The space between Petrobras’ refinery prices and the Import Parity Price (PPI) has gotten pretty close to critical, like, it’s at a bad threshold now. BTG Pactual estimates Petrobras is moving diesel at a 47% discount compared with international levels, but the gap only tightens to 28% once the government subsidies are taken into account. For gasoline, the pre-subsidy discount is sitting around 37%.

So this mismatch has kind of shut the door for private importers, and now Petrobras is basically the only major supplier for a big slice of the domestic market. Meanwhile, private refiners such as Acelen have already started correcting their prices upward, and just recently they bumped diesel by 8% and gasoline by 5% to mirror international fluctuations, even with all that volatility in play.

Market Opportunity Amid Volatility

Even with the pricing constraints , financial institutions seem to be getting more bullish on Petrobras (PETR4) shares. Banco do Brasil recently upgraded its recommendation to “Buy” and put a price target at 45.00 reais, kinda straightforward in a way.

Analysts say Petrobras is somehow uniquely built to profit from a “new era” where oil prices stay structurally higher. They argue that geopolitical risk lingering around longer, has basically formed a higher price floor for the commodity and, honestly, few players are as well-positioned as Petrobras to absorb that value. Banco do Brasil analysts said that part directly.

On the technical side, there’s also talk of additional upside, with some targets landing near 47.53 reais as the stock follows the upward momentum of Brent crude. Brent recently slipped past the $94 mark and is still getting upward pressure, with attention shifting toward $100, for now.

The "Querosene" Exception

While gasoline and diesel stay frozen, airfares are already starting to feel it. Different from road fuels, aviation kerosene is tweaked every month according to international prices. Analysts expect a pretty sharp rise in passenger costs from August, and that could become the first real, visible signal of energy‑driven inflation inside the official indexes.

Meanwhile, Brent crude keeps climbing, pushed by thin global inventories and the worry of supply interruptions around the Red Sea. So the strain on Brazil’s energy policy is moving toward a kind of boiling point. For now, the “election ceiling” holds steady, but the market is already pricing a rough, jagged finish for 2026.

From Waste to Wealth: How Brazil is Turning Pig Manure and City Trash into the 'Fuel of the Future'

Across Brazil there’s a pretty quiet revolution happening, in the pipes and pits of the country’s industrial heartlands. From hog farms down south to the trash heaps in the northeast, waste isn’t just some leftover problem anymore, it’s turning into a kind of strategic energy asset.

In Santa Catarina, a southern state, a milestone has been reached this month. For the first time, biomethane made from swine waste has been injected straight into the state’s piped gas network. What used to be a costly environmental burden for pig farmers, dealing with nitrogen rich runoff that can choke local waterways is now showing up as revenue, helping power industries and stepping in for fossil derived natural gas.

“This is the state of the art,” says a local industry representative. “We went from using biogas for carbon credits, then for electricity, and now we’re purifying it into biomethane. It’s a renewable fuel that’s chemically the same as natural gas, but 100% organic.”

The Urban Frontier: Cleaning Up the Megacities

The revolution isn’t confined to the countryside. In São Paulo, South America’s largest metropolis, the transition is hitting the streets. Volkswagen Truck & Bus recently closed a landmark deal to supply 56 biomethane-powered trucks to Loga, the company responsible for urban waste collection in the city.

The irony is poetic: the very waste collected by these trucks can be processed into the fuel that powers them. These vehicles reduce CO2 emissions by up to 90% compared to diesel, and in a city plagued by noise pollution, their quieter gas engines offer a rare respite for residents.

“The market acceptance is exceeding expectations,” says Ricardo Alouche of Volkswagen. “Our production is already committed through September. The operational savings make the choice easy for clients.”

A Billion-Dollar Race in the Northeast

While the south and southeast lead in immediate application, a high-stakes investment race is heating up in the Northeast. States like Pernambuco, Bahia, and Ceará are positioning themselves as hubs for green fuels, including biomethane, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), and green hydrogen.

In Ceará, a R$1.4 million project led by the Industrial Technology and Quality Nucleus (NUTEC) is pushing the boundaries of science. Researchers are using microalgae and artificial intelligence to purify biogas from urban sewage and agribusiness waste into commercial-grade biomethane.

The scale of the potential is staggering. The Brazilian Biogas Association estimates that the country could produce 7 million cubic meters of biomethane per day by 2030, attracting R$348 billion in investment and creating nearly 800,000 jobs.

The Infrastructure Bottleneck

However, the path to a green future is not without hurdles. Brazil’s gas pipeline network remains concentrated in coastal regions, leaving vast swaths of the interior — where the biomass is most abundant — isolated. Thousands of landfills still vent methane into the atmosphere, wasting a resource that could be heating homes or powering factories.

For regions like Paraíba, the challenge is to move beyond being a mere supplier of raw biomass. The goal is to build a local industry of engineering, automation, and technology. Therefore, the transition won’t be built solely by large plants, but it will pass through small solutions scattered across the fields and cities.

As Brazil grapples with its climate commitments, the biomethane boom offers a rare win-win: cleaning up the environment while securing energy independence. The "fuel of the future" has arrived, and it smells like opportunity.

Raízen (RAIZ4) Sells Another Key Asset as Investors Lose Confidence

Raízen, Brazil’s leading sugar and ethanol producer, announced on Monday the sale of its Caarapó mill to Adecoagro for 760 million reais ($130 million), as the company struggles to navigate the largest out-of-court debt restructuring in the country’s history.

The transaction includes the industrial unit in Mato Grosso do Sul, sugarcane assets, and supplier contracts. The mill processed approximately 3.5 million tonnes of sugarcane in the 2025/26 harvest. Following the sale, Raízen, a joint venture between Shell and Cosan, will operate 23 mills with a total crushing capacity of 69 million tonnes per harvest.

SHARES HIT HISTORIC LOWS

Despite the cash injection, Raízen’s shares plunged nearly 7% on the B3 exchange, hitting a new historic low of 0.27 reais. Investors remain skeptical that asset sales alone can address the company’s massive 65-billion-reais ($11.2 billion) debt pile.

The market capitalization of the company has shrunk to approximately 2.8 billion reais, a fraction of its total liabilities. Since the beginning of 2025, the company has wiped out 87% of its market value.

"POSITIVE BUT INSUFFICIENT"

Analysts noted that while the divestment helps streamline operations and provides immediate liquidity, it represents only about 1.2% of the company’s total debt.

"The sale is positive in terms of portfolio optimization, but it is insufficient to meaningfully deleverage the company or rebalance its capital structure," Citi said in a research note.

Raízen has been on a divestment spree since 2025, totaling 12.7 billion reais in agreed sales, including its fuel refining assets in Argentina and several solar and power marketing businesses.

ADECOAGRO EXPANDS FOOTPRINT

For Adecoagro, the acquisition marks a significant expansion. The company expects to boost its sugarcane processing capacity by 24% to 17.7 million tonnes. The Caarapó plant is located less than 100 kilometers from Adecoagro’s existing clusters in Angélica and Ivinhema, creating a highly integrated and competitive production hub in the region.

The deal remains subject to approval by Brazil’s antitrust regulator, CADE.

Brazil Unveils World's First Ethanol-Powered Gas Turbine

Brazil has presented its first locally developed gas turbine powered by ethanol, a move that places the country among a select group of nations capable of producing the entire cycle of turbine technology while leveraging its leadership in biofuels, particularly with regard to Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva attended the presentation on Monday at the Aerospace Technical Center (CTA) in São José dos Campos. The 1-megawatt (MW) turbine, developed by Aero Concepts in partnership with the Institute of Aeronautics and Space (IAE).

STRATEGIC SOVEREIGNTY

The project, dubbed UGEE1000BR, is a transportable unit integrated into a standard shipping container. Beyond civil power generation for remote areas or disaster relief, the technology has significant implications for national defense. The turbine’s core technology is also being adapted for use in drones and cruise missiles.

"Brazil is now the sixth country in the world to produce a turbine from start to finish," Lula said during the ceremony, referring to a list that includes the United States, China, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom. "And it is the first country to produce a turbine 100% powered by ethanol."

REDUCING IMPORT DEPENDENCE

The development marks a strategic push for technological sovereignty. Alexandre Roma, CEO of Aero Concepts, highlighted that the company has achieved independence in raw materials and manufacturing processes, including the acquisition of vacuum micro-fusion furnaces to handle high-temperature alloys like Inconel.

The project had faced delays since its inception in 2008 but was revitalized in 2024 with a 30-million-reais ($5.2 million) investment from the federal government.

"We need to be the masters of our own destiny," Lula added. "We produce aircraft, but we are often dependent on a single comma of technology that isn't ours. This turbine changes that."

SCALING UP

The next phase of the project involves connecting the unit to a sugarcane-to-energy plant for operational testing. Aero Concepts stated it is ready to scale production if government or private orders are placed, citing potential demand from data centers and remote energy markets.

The initiative involves collaboration with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Development Bank (BNDES), and the Ministry of Mines and Energy, signaling a broad government commitment to the new energy matrix.

The ‘Green Paradox’: Can Brazil Drill for Oil and Lead the Climate Revolution?

As global energy investments hit a record $3 trillion, Brazil finds itself in a unique position, balancing its status as a top-10 oil producer with one of the world's cleanest energy matrices. But as the world races toward 2050, the country faces a difficult question: should it open up the "Equatorial Margin" for oil exploration?

Brazil is often cited as a global outlier in the climate crisis. While the global average for CO₂ emissions from the energy sector stands at a staggering 76%, in Brazil, that figure is just 20%. This is not an accident of history but the result of decades of public policy, from the "Proálcool" program of the 1970s to the massive expansion of hydroelectric and wind power.

However, a new debate is surfacing in Brasília that highlights the pragmatic, and often contradictory, nature of the global energy transition. Even as the country invests heavily in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and green hydrogen, it is also eyeing the "Equatorial Margin," a vast offshore area in the north that could hold billions of barrels of oil.

THE PRAGMATIC PATH

"The transition is a compilation of joint actions by environmentalists, economists, and governments," says Dr. Paula Meyer, an energy economics expert at the University of Brasília. "It’s not just about speed; it’s about a complex process of converting entire production chains. Oil and gas will remain essential components of our base during this maturation period."

For Yuri Schmitke, head of the Brazilian Waste Energy Association, the path forward is not about "attacking the system" of fossil fuels but about a gradual, balanced reduction. He argues that Brazil’s true strength lies in its "multiplicity of solutions", like biomass, biogas, and biomethane, which often receive less regulatory attention than solar or wind but offer 10 to 15 times more decarbonization potential.

A GLOBAL REBALANCING

While Brazil navigates its internal dilemmas, the global stage is shifting. China has consolidated its dominance in clean energy supply chains and critical minerals. Meanwhile, the United States is struggling to regain technological ground after years of subsidy cuts, and Europe’s green ambitions are being sidelined by the urgent need for military spending amid regional conflicts.

"Brazil has already done its energy transition decades ago," Schmitke points out, noting that the country's electricity matrix is already 93% renewable, a target Europe is only hoping to reach by 2050.

THE CARBON MARKET FRONTIER

The next great challenge for Brazil is the implementation of a regulated carbon market (SBCE). By aligning with international standards, Brazil aims to turn its environmental preservation and reforestation efforts into a massive financial asset, exporting carbon credits to the "global north" to offset emissions in the US, China, and Europe.

As the world’s energy investment increasingly pivots toward renewables, double the amount spent on fossil fuels, Brazil’s "eclectic" approach serves as a benchmark test for the rest of the world. Can a nation remain a global oil giant while simultaneously leading the charge toward a zero-carbon future? In the halls of power in Brasília, the answer seems to be that it must do both.

IBGE, ICMBio Bring Roncador Reserve Under Federal Protection

Brazil has officially sort of integrated the IBGE Ecological Reserve into its National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), reclassifying the area as the Roncador Ecological Station (Esec) and, the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio) announced on Monday, kinda late but still.

This change regularizes the legal situation of the 1,391 hectare area, which was established back in 1975 but had no formal category under the 2000 SNUC Law. Now the new federal conservation unit will be co-managed by ICMBio and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) .

SCIENTIFIC HUB

Somewhere around 25 kilometers out from central Brasília, the Roncador station turns out to be a key spot for Cerrado biome research. In that zone there are well over 4,000 species of fauna and flora, and among them, 63 species are listed as threatened with extinction. On top of that, the station hosts the IBGE Herbarium, started back in 1977. Inside, there’s one of the most important botanical collections in Brazil, with more than 87,000 specimens, all of it kept for careful study. “The recognition of this reserve as an Ecological Station strengthens our national statistical and geographic system, in the face of the global climate emergency,” said IBGE President Marcio Pochmann, during the signing ceremony.

CO-MANAGEMENT AND URBAN CHALLENGES

The reclassification allows for more integrated management between different public institutions, a approach officials say is essential in order to confront climate change and urban encroachment. The reserve is now getting surrounded by cities, little by little, and that puts on the table new problems for fire management and biodiversity protection, overall it becomes harder. Mauro Oliveira Pires, President of ICMBio, mentioned that being included in the national system means it is necessary to build a formal management plan, and also create a consultative council so the community can actually take part in the unit’s administration. In other words, it s not just paperwork The Roncador station will likewise host a base for IBAMA’s Prevfogo, a specialized brigade focused on fighting forest fires, which stay as a major threat to the Cerrado ecosystem.

Brazil Market: Global Shocks vs. Domestic Resilience

The optimism that fueled the Brazilian market in early 2026 has sharply reversed as the first half of the year draws to a close, with a combination of geopolitical conflict (US x Iran) and persistent high interest rates.

The benchmark Ibovespa index, which hit a record high near 200,000 points in April, has retreated to the 170,000-point level. Meanwhile, the Brazilian real has weakened to 5.20 per dollar, a significant shift from the 4.90 levels seen earlier this year.

GLOBAL SHOCKS AND "US EXCEPTIONALISM"

The primary catalyst for the reversal was external. The outbreak of conflict between the United States and Iran triggered a global oil price shock, forcing a repricing of interest rate expectations. Analysts note that "higher-for-longer" rates in the U.S. have sucked liquidity out of emerging markets, drawing capital back to the American economy.

The resurgence of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom has further cemented "U.S. exceptionalism." Major Brazilian hedge funds, such as Verde Asset and Legacy Capital, have reduced their exposure to local assets in favor of the U.S. tech sector and AI-linked currencies like the South Korean won and Taiwan dollar. Legacy Capital now maintains 80% of its portfolio abroad.

DOMESTIC HEADWINDS

As foreign capital fled, with B3 outflows totaling over 17 billion reais in recent months, Brazil’s internal vulnerabilities have come to the fore.

Fiscal concerns have returned to the spotlight as multi-billion reais spending measures gain traction in Brasília, with a Congress led by figures such as Senate President David Alcolumbre, and his package of "fiscal time bombs" expected to drain billions from public coffers, combined with the federal government's spending on initiatives such as the Novo Desenrola program, which will channel billions of reais into a nationwide debt restructuring program for families, students, micro and small businesses, and family farmers.

Also political risk is also rising ahead of the 2026 elections, while inflation expectations have unanchored for horizons as far out as 2028. This has led to a dramatic shift in monetary policy outlooks: market consensus for the Selic rate has jumped from 12% to 14%, with some betting the tightening cycle may not be over at the current 14.25%.

Also fiscal concerns have returned to the spotlight as multi-billion reais spending measures gain traction in Brasília. But, Brazil is not currently facing an insolvency crisis, but a "fiscal reality check" will be unavoidable by 2027 as rising debt and stratospheric real interest rates force deep structural reforms, according to Felipe Salto, chief economist at Warren and former executive director of the Independent Fiscal Institution (IFI).

In a wide-ranging interview, Salto argued that while Brazil’s external accounts remain robust, with high international reserves and a manageable current account deficit, the domestic fiscal trajectory is increasingly fragile. Brazil’s public debt is roughly 20 percentage points of GDP higher than its emerging market peers and continues to grow.

Salto proposed reforms including changes to mandatory spending, stricter enforcement of public sector salary caps, and a review of tax exemptions and constitutional spending mandates. He also suggested Brazil’s current fiscal framework may need tighter spending limits to ensure long-term debt sustainability.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM AT BROKERAGES

Despite the gloom, some local brokerages maintain a "tactical" optimism. XP Investimentos and Banco Inter have both maintained or raised their year-end targets for the Ibovespa, at 205,000 and 193,000 points respectively.

"Valuations have improved significantly, and earnings projections for 2026 and 2027 remain stable or have been revised upwards," said Artur Wichmann, CIO at XP.

Banco Inter analysts argue that if companies simply "deliver the expected," the market could see a significant rebound. "We don't need magical scenarios; moderate delivery is enough to unlock value," the bank stated, pointing to corporate resilience in the first quarter of 2026.

Brazil’s Wave Lithium Bets on Microwave Technology to Challenge China’s Refining Dominance

Wave Lithium, a subsidiary of the New Wave holding company, is working on a kind of disruptive microwave based tech to refine lithium in Brazil, and yeah basically try to cut production costs by 50% versus Chinese refineries.

The whole project wants to turn spodumene, a lithium rich mineral, into battery grade lithium hydroxide and also carbonate. Right now, China controls about 94% of the worldwide lithium refining market, and it keeps sort of a technological monopoly, so Brazil is now trying to push back.

MICROWAVE INNOVATION

The company is investing 25 million reais ( about $4.3 million) in a pilot plant planned to open in September. The site will make use of a rather unique microwave-driven decrepitation and sulfation process that was developed in Rio de Janeiro. As Gustavo Emina CEO of New Wave told Estadão, this tech may bring refining costs down to roughly $1,800 per ton, way under the present Chinese average which sits near $6,000 per ton.

SCALING UP IN THE "LITHIUM VALE"

By 2027 Wave Lithium is planning to roll out an industrial scale plant in Minas Gerais, in the Jequitinhonha Valley, a place people often call the “Lithium Vale” for convenience, but you know, sort of. The project is supposed to reach about 250,000 tons per year of concentrate, and in practice it should turn into something like 30,000 tons or more of lithium carbonate equivalent, also known as LCE. In the meantime, the region already has big names around it, like Sigma Lithium (SGML.V) and Companhia Brasileira do Lítio (CBL). So Wave Lithium ends up with this strategic closeness to raw inputs, rather than going far and spending extra time.

BACKED BY GLOBAL GIANTS

New Wave is kind of controlled by Lorinvest, which is the investment firm of the Lorentzen family. The holding company recently raised about $120 million, in a round that was led by Orion Resource Partners, a global fund focused on strategic metals and the energy transition… Other backers also showed up, like Just Climate, a company founded by Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management. The same company then also got a 221-million-reais credit line from Brazil’s state development bank, BNDES, to help with its innovation projects, including low-carbon metal output that comes from mining waste.

Brazil unemployment hits two-decade low of 5.6%

Brazil’s unemployment rate slipped to 5.6% in the three months through May, from 6.2% a year earlier, the government’s IBGE stats agency said on Friday. Overall it was kind of similar to the 5.8% logged in the previous rolling quarter ending in February, so not much of a swing there. In the end this points to a steadier labor market, at least for Latin America’s biggest economy, with employed people reaching 102.7 million, up 0.8% compared to the same period in 2025.

UNDERUTILIZATION AND WAGES

The composite underutilization rate , which sort of counts the unemployed, the underemployed by hours, or those in the potential labor force, fell notably to 13.3% , slipping from 14.9% a year ago. Also, discouraged workers got hit by a sharp decline, around 14.6% over the last twelve months , landing at 2.4 million people.

Meanwhile, average real monthly income stayed pretty steady at 3,726 reais ($642) versus the previous quarter, but it still inched up 4.0% year-on-year. The total mass of real labor income reached 377.7 billion reais, up 4.8% from May 2025, so basically suggesting that household purchasing power in Brazil remains steady and not fading.

SECTORAL PERFORMANCE

Job growth was pushed, mostly by the public sector and logistics, pretty much that. Employment in "Public administration, defense, social security, education, and health" was up 3.8% year-on-year and it added something like 711,000 jobs. At the same time the "Transportation, storage, and mail" sector also did well, there was a 4.0% boost in its workforce.

On the other hand, domestic services kind of reversed, the number of workers in that segment actually slid 5.7% (around 329,000 people) compared to the same quarter last year..

INFORMALITY STABILIZES

The level of informality sat around 37.3% of the employed population, and that translated into 38.3 million workers. It’s sort of a modest uptick versus the 37.8% noted for the same span in 2025. Meanwhile, the count of private sector employees with formal contracts stayed roughly the same, at 39.3 million.