Brazil has the largest fleet of cars converted to use the highest blends of ethanol, and the government is reportedly debating whether to remove duties on imports of the U.S.-sourced fuel. As is usual in many countries, the agriculture ministry opposes such a move, but others in the government see it as a strategic offering toward a larger bilateral trade agreement. The U.S. is already the largest supplier of ethanol to Brazil (see graph below), and when the current 600 million-liter import quota expires at the end of August, the 20 percent duty would still leave American ethanol competitively entering the market. Shipments of biofuel have been a growing market, and the trade war with China has made it more important as an outlet for surpl...

TAGS – Feed Grains, Biofuels, Asia, China, Europe, India, North America