World Highlights

Brazil

• The use of 24% (varying from 20-24% depending on availability) ethanol blends in gasoline is mandatory.
• 400 million liters (12.5% of world exports) of ethanol is exported.
• Solubilizers used to blend 3–15% of ethanol with diesel have been developed.
• Ethanol produced substitutes about 200,000 barrels of gasoline per day.
• The alcohol price was about $0.7 per liter (Rs 32.2 approx.) in 1980, but has dropped to around $0.3 per liter (Rs 13.8 approx.). Today, ethanol is competitive with gasoline.

• In 1991, the Governors’ Ethanol Coalition (GEC) was launched to promote and increase the use of ethanol in the US. 27 states are members with international representatives from Brazil, Canada, Mexico and Sweden (refer www.ethanol-gec.org).
• Ethanol production boosts total employment by 195,000 jobs, improves their trade balance by $2 billion, adds over $140 million to state tax receipts and increases net farm income by $4.5 billion. The federal ethanol program benefits US taxpayers, resulting in net savings to the US Treasury of $3.8 billion each year.
• The US ethanol production capacity would nearly double to over 4.5 billion gallons (17 billion liters) per year by end-2005.
• California has decided to phase out Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) by Jan 1, 2004.
• However, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell Oil Products and Phillips Petroleum (four of California’s five major refiners) have decided to use ethanol-blended gasoline from Jan 1, 2003.

• Less than 5% of the more than 2 billion liters alcohol produced in the community is used as fuel.
• In 1994, the Commission decided to allow tax concessions for pilot plants producing bio-fuels, following which new bio-fuel projects have been announced in the Netherlands, Sweden and Spain.
• France has seen the most progress. In 1987 a law was passed allowing the blending of 3-15% of organic oxygenated compounds with petrol (3% for pure ethanol and 15% for ethers such as ETBE). In 1992, their government agreed to exempt bio-ethanol from a domestic tax on the consumption of petrol (the so-called TIPP). In Nov 1996, their parliament approved a draft law on clean air that made the use of oxygenated components in fuel mandatory by 2000.
• The most important single agricultural feedstock for the production of ethanol in France is sugar beet, from which roughly 50% is manufactured.

• They are promoting ethanol-based fuel on a pilot basis in five cities.
• The Tianguan Group Company has an ethanol facility (capacity of 200,000 tons/year) in Henan.
• Another project is under construction in northeast China, with a production capacity of 800,000 tons of ethanol using corn as the raw material. It is expected to use 1.92 million tons of corn a year.
• Heilongjiang Province produced 220,000 tons of ethanol, exporting 90,000 tons to Japan and South Korea in the year 2000.

Brazil Demand-Supply of Ethanol (2002-03)

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