Singapore — Japan's total ethanol imports rose 11.99% month on month to 70,313 cu min May, data released Monday by the Trade Statistics of Japan showed.
Ethanol imports in May were, however, 1.77% or 1,267 cu m lower year onyear.
The import volume of undenatured ethanol fell 7.01% month on month to58,384 cu m in May.
Pakistan was the biggest supplier of undenatured ethanol during themonth, accounting for 42.21%, followed by Brazil at 31.63%.
Brazil has been the biggest supplier of undenatured ethanol to Japan sofar this year, accounting for 48.65% of the total 276,208 cu m of undenaturedethanol imported by Japan since January 2018. Pakistan was the second largestsupplier, with 23.40%.
As for denatured ethanol for bio-ethyl tert-butyl ether production, Japanimported 11,929 cu m from Brazil in May, 7.20% lower year on year. There wereno imports in April.
As of April this year, Japan allowed US corn-based ethanol as feedstockfor ETBE production. Prior to that, only Brazilian cane-based ethanol wasallowed for ETBE production.
Japanese refiners first introduced ETBE-blended gasoline as part ofTokyo's commitment under the Kyoto Protocol to cut GHG emissions by 6% from1990 levels during 2008-2012.
