Brazil, the world's largest sugar and ethanol producer, makes ethanol from sugar cane.
In Brazil, 25% of ethanol is already blended into regular gasoline, while an increasing number of cars runs on any mixture of gasoline or ethanol, which is available in almost all gas stations in the country.
Japan has authorized the addition of 3% ethanol to gasoline to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from cars to meet Kyoto protocol targets.
Brazilian ethanol exports could double or triple with ethanol shipping to Japan from last year's level of about 2.5 billion liters, Petrobras' Downstream Director Roberto Costa said in October.