Rio de Janeiro (Platts)--26Nov2010/943 am EST/1443 GMT
Eight Brazilian ethanol producers have registered as advanced renewable fuel producers with the US Environmental Protection Agency, easing controls on their exports to the world's largest fuels market, Unica, Brazil's main sugarcane group said Friday. The companies registered are Cargill, Della Coletta Bioenergia, Asucar Guarani, LDC Bioenergia and four mills linked to Copersucar, Unica said in a statement, citing data from the EPA. The registration requirement is part of recent US legislation aimed at boosting the use of ethanol and other renewable fuels. According to the EPA, Brazilian sugarcane ethanol produces 61% less carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases compared with gasoline. EPA registration will reduce complications and delays for Brazilian ethanol exporters in the US, said Joel Velasco, Unica's North American representative. No Brazilian mills have yet registered in the US state of California, which if it were a country would edge out Brazil as the eighth-largest economy, Unica said. California is also a bigger fuel market than Brazil. Velasco said Brazilian ethanol mills should register there too as the California equivalent to the EPA's advanced renewable fuel standard, the state's low carbon fuel standard, is stricter than the US Federal standard. Brazilian sugarcane ethanol is considered suitable for use in California, though as with the EPA registration, California registration will ease the ethanol export and sale process in the future. --Jeb Blount, newsdesk@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Oilgram News. See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products/oilgramnews