Brazil Eyes Ethanol Export Boom after Bush Speech

Ethanol producers in Brazil, the world’s biggest and cheapest exporter of the alternative fuel, see a fantastic business opportunity in US President Bush’s aim to cut his country’s gasoline use by 20 percent over a decade.

Brazil’s Sugar Cane Industry Union (Unica) said support for biofuels in the United States will help Brazil’s pioneering ethanol industry. Brazilian ethanol experts say the use of sugar cane, which can produce ethanol more efficiently than crops such as corn, gives the South American country a competitive advantage in the world’s search for new sources of energy.
“We say that other world producers are our allies…our competitor is gasoline,” said Unica President Eduardo Pereira de Carvalho, seeing an expansion of the world ethanol market as other countries follow the lead of the United States.

One such country is Japan, which plans to insert ethanol into its energy matrix, but is concerned about the lack of a reliable supplier, said another ethanol analyst, who declined to be identified.

“It will potentially lead to a tremendous increase in Brazilian exports,” Unica’s Carvalho said, noting that 60 percent of Brazil’s ethanol exports this year were destined for the United States.

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