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Brazil: We will import U.S. ethanol when needed

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20110519/BUSINESS01/105190348/-1/DMWEST/Brazil-We-will-import-U-S-ethanol-when-needed

12:31 AM, May. 19, 2011

The world's biggest producer of sugarcane ethanol has no problem using its corn-made cousin, the Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. said Wednesday.

"As long as we need it, we'll import it," said Ambassador Mauro Vieira, who met with editors from The Des Moines Register on Wednesday.

Brazil imported a record amount of ethanol in the first quarter of 2011, because of a poor sugarcane harvest last year, high sugar prices and higher domestic demand, said Platts, an energy information service. Most of that imported ethanol came from the United States; Iowa is the nation's largest producer.

Brazil has long protested the U.S. tariff on imported ethanol, and its officials have argued that its producers make cane ethanol in a cheaper, more environmentally friendly way without raising corn prices.

"We prefer our own because it's more efficient," Vieira said. He repeated criticism that U.S. ethanol takes corn from "the mouths of people."

But it's also in Brazil's interest to promote the use of alternative fuels.

"It is in our culture," he said. "We don't think whether it's corn or our sugar when we put it in our tanks."

The ambassador said Brazilian and U.S. officials are working together to increase worldwide ethanol demand.

Vieira met with business and state officials in Des Moines to discuss commerce between Iowa and the rapidly growing economy. Iowa's exports to Brazil, the state's seventh largest export market, have grown from $95 million in 2006 to $353 million in 2010.