Brasília - Last week minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues, was in the city of Pradópolis (SP), with the minister of Agriculture, Forests and Fishing of Japan, Shoichi Nakagawa, for a visit to an ethanol plant (Usina de São Martinho).

The Japanese have expressed an interest in Brazilian sugarcane-based ethanol and are observing the production process. Their long-term interest is to study the possibility of treating ethanol as an renewable energy commodity and drawing up supply contracts that would involve local producers.

Translation: Allen Bennett