SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA said on Friday it has sold 33 Ipanema 203 aircraft in the first quarter of 2023, a 38% increase from the same period of 2021, predicting to end the year with a sales volume similar to or better than 2022’s 66 planes.

“With the positive performance at the beginning of the year and the backlog accumulated over the last 12 months, new orders are now included in next year’s production planning and deliveries,” the company said in a statement.

The Ipanema 203 is an agricultural aircraft used for crop dusting. Embraer said it expects to produce and deliver by the end of this year 65 units, compared to 55 in 2022, which would mark its third consecutive year of growth in the segment.

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan)

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