Sugarcane ethanol: Contributions to climate change - BAFF

Chapter 6
Brazil have been roughly well distributed among 10-12 countries. On the other hand, due to
the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) agreement 10 , most of the ethanol exported from Brazil
to Central America and Caribbean countries reaches US. US importers from Caribbean
and Central America countries have continuously grown since 2002.
Figure 4 shows Brazil’s ethanol trade since 1970. Traditionally, Brazilian exports of ethanol
have been oriented for beverage production and industrial purposes but, recently, trade
for fuel purposes has enlarged. Halfway the 90-ies, a shortage of ethanol occurred, even
requiring net imports. But a�er 2000 Brazilian exports of ethanol have risen steadily. In
2007 exports reached 3.5 billion litres and it is estimated that about 4 billion litres will be
exported in 2008. It is expected that Brazil will maintain such an important position in the
future. Outlooks on the future ethanol market are discussed in the next section.
10 CBI is an agreement between US and Central American and Caribbean countries that allows that up to 7%
of the US ethanol demand may be imported duty-free, even if the production itself occurs in another country
(Zarilli, 2006).
Brazil's ethanol trade (million litres)
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
-1,000
-2,000
-3,000
Imports
Exports
0
1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
Figure 4. Trade in ethanol in Brazil 1970-2008 (estimates for 2008), including all end-uses (Brazil,
2008), (Kutas, 2008).
144 Sugarcane ethanol