Petrobras inks ethanol supply deal with Toyota arm

Brazilian state oil company’s Petrobras said it signed a 10-year ethanol supply contract worth US$820 million with Toyota Motor Corp.’s trading arm Toyota Tsoshu Corp. (TTC). “Brazilian sugar cane ethanol will be used as feedstock in a chemical ethanol project that TTC is deploying with a local partner in Taiwan to produce (plastic),” Petrobras said in a statement. Petrobras, relatively a novice in the biofuels sector even though Brazil is the world’s second-largest ethanol maker, said the deal was its first long-term ethanol supply contract. It will deliver 143,000 cubic meters per year. (October 30, 2010)