Brazil to help Vietnam produce ethanol

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung approved the Ministry of Industry’s plans to cooperate with Brazil to produce ethanol fuel in Vietnam in May. Meanwhile, some local businesses, such as Dong Xanh Joint Stock Company, have started investing in the biofuels business. Dong Xanh, for example, is building a US$37.5 million ethanol plant in Dai Loc district, Quang Nam province, which will have an annual capacity of 120 million liters of ethanol, once it starts operating in early 2008. The Indian refiner Nagarjuna Vietnam, which owns the majority shares of Binh Dinh Sugar Refinery, has invested US$38 million in an ethanol plant, with a capacity to produce 60,000 liters a day, in Long An province. Sugar Bourbon Tay Ninh Company plans to build a US$10 million plant to produce 10,000 liters of ethanol a day. Petrosetco, a subsidiary of PetroVietnam, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japans Itochu Corporation to build a US$100 million ethanol plant, with an annual capacity to produce 100 million liters, in Hiep Phuoc Industrial Zone in Ho Chi Minh City. (May 29, 2007)