Brazil and China may seek joint ventures in ethanol to boost biofuels production in both countries and allow China, the world's fastest growing fuels consumer, to lessen its dependency on petroleum, Brazil's largest sugarcane industry group, Unica, said Wednesday.

     A high-level Chinese energy delegation has been touring Brazilian  ethanol mills this week, Unica said on its website. The delegation includes executives from PetroChina and government officials including Sun Qin, deputy director of China's state energy bureau.

     Although the US and Europe are the top destinations for Brazil's ethanol exports to date, producers in the South American country are seeking to strike export deals with Asian countries including China and Japan, and have sought 
out Asian capital to finance mill expansion in Brazil.

     China is considering an ethanol mandate to require a 10% ethanol mix in the gasoline sold throughout the country, potentially expanding nationwide the E10 mandate it now has in place in five provinces, said Eduardo Leao de Sousa,
Unica's executive director. A potential E10 mandate would require supplies of 7 billion liters of ethanol a year, or double the amount exported last year by Brazil, the largest export supplier.

  --Josh Schneyer, newsdesk@platts.com

(platts.com, Nov 20, 2008)