Japan and Brazil announce ethanol deal

Ever since the dawn of the Industrial Age, Japan has had to import oil, and Japan was hit hard by the 1973 Oil Crisis. Even though the renewable fuel market is growing worldwide, Japan is not any more energy independent because it has limited farmland on which to grow fuel crops. To secure a steady supply of ethanol, Japan and Brazil announced early this month that they will sign a pact in October for Brazil to import the biofuel to Japan. Japan has invested $1.29 billion in Brazil to produce ethanol and biodiesel, the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry announced last week in a story in the Dominican Today. Brazil produces 4.4 billion gallons of ethanol each year and last year exported 685 million gallons, mostly to the U.S. and Europe. Japan will need about 475 million gallons of ethanol a year because of a new law that requires gasoline to contain three percent ethanol.

[Source: Dominican Today via Renewable Energy Access