LATIN AMERICA: July 23, 2008


Latin America is emerging as an important producer of biofuels, taking advantage of good climate and soil conditions. The following are key facts about the region's biofuels efforts.


* Brazil is Latin America's leading producer of biofuels and the second-largest producer in the world due to an expansive sugar cane ethanol program that began decades ago. The vast majority of its 27.5 billion liters of annual ethanol production is consumed domestically, and most cars can run ethanol and gasoline.

* Exports of Brazilian ethanol to the United States have been limited in part because of a 54-cent-per-gallon US ethanol tariff. Brazil is lobbying to have the tariff removed.

* Colombia, Latin America's second-largest biofuels producer, is increasing output through new investment in sugar production and palm oil, which can also be turned into fuel. Colombian officials say abundant grasslands are ideal for biofuels development since crops can be grown without cutting down rainforests.

* Latin American countries such as Peru and Venezuela are gradually introducing biofuels such as ethanol as additives in motor gasoline as they phase out more contaminating fuel additives.

* Caribbean and Central American countries including El Salvador and the Dominican Republic are developing biofuels facilities to tap into the US market. The facilities often process Brazilian ethanol bound for the United States, letting Brazil sidestep the US tariff through regional trade pacts.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth, editing by Matthew Lewis)


REUTERS NEWS SERVICE