Brazil, 7 April 2010

Brazil, the world's No. 2 producer of ethanol, has scrapped a tariff on imports of the biofuel in an effort to pressure other countries to eliminate their own duties on it and enable it to export more. Brazil's Chamber for Foreign Trade (Camex) has said it will end the 20 percent tariff on imports of ethanol until Dec. 31, 2011. The measure will take effect once published in the government's official journal in a few days.

As one of the world's largest and most competitive producers of the biofuel, imports are almost unheard of so the decision is unlikely to involve much sacrifice on the Brazilian side, but the intent would be to pressure others to open their markets to ethanol.

"The alteration in question is in line with Brazilian demands towards various international markets, in relation to eliminating tariff and non-tariff barriers imposed on the production," the Chamber said in a statement.

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