Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, and partner Brazil-Japan Ethanol Co., have shipped their first cargo of ethanol to Japan, Petrobras said Monday.
The 73,000 liters (19,285 gallons) of ethanol will be used by the industrial and beverage markets, rather than the fuel market, Petrobras said in a statement.
The Petrobras cargo arrived at the storage tanks of the Japan Alcohol Trading Company on June 7 in the city of Kobe.
"While the volume involved is not significant, this export is important for evaluating all the stages of the logistical process involved and its impact on the final quality of the product," the statement said.
Brazil, the world's leading ethanol exporter, has been in talks with Japan, the world's third-largest petroleum consumer, for several years in hopes of sealing a long-term ethanol export contract.
In December 2005, Petrobras and Nippon Alcohol Hanbai joined forces to create the Brazil-Japan Ethanol Co. with the objective of shipping and selling some 20 million liters (5.3 million gallons) of ethanol per year by 2008.
Brazil is second largest ethanol producer after the United States.
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