US ethanol exports hit a new monthly all-time high of 577.1 million liters in November as Brazil, the world's second-largest producer of the biofuel, imported record volumes to make up for a shortfall in domestic production, official US government data show.
The previous record high was in July, when the US shipped 482.2 million liters of the biofuel.
November figures, the latest available, show a four-fold increase on the same month of 2010, when exports amounted to 147.2 million liters.
Brazil imported 272.5 million liters of the biofuel in November, the highest volume ever recorded and 9% above the previous high reached in April, the data from the US Department of Commerce show.
In the year-to-date, US exports stood at 3.86 billion liters compared with 1.5 billion liters in the same period of 2010.
"Exports have become an important part of the business model for American ethanol producers," Geoff Cooper, vice president of research and analysis at the Renewable Fuels Association, said in a statement.
As reported earlier by Platts, Brazil imported a record high of 279.7 million liters of ethanol from the US in December.
Weather-battered crops combined with a lack of investment to replace old and less-productive sugarcane fields put Brazil's center-south region on track for the worst harvest in more than a decade.
Sugarcane is the primary feedstock for ethanol production in Brazil.
Poor crops and higher sugar profitability pushed down ethanol output by more than 18% this season, trade group UNICA said, while car sales and fuel demand remained on the rise.
In 2011, Brazil imported a record high 1.1 billion liters of ethanol from the US, compared with 74.1 million liters in 2010, according to official Brazilian government data.
