Vietnam will cut tariffs on ethanol imports from 17% for 100% pure ethanol and 20% for 99% or below to 15% for all grades starting from July 10. The reduction applies to all ethanol imported from any country that has no free trade agreement with Vietnam. Despite lower duty, market participants expected trade seems unlikely to increase due to shaky demand.
Vietnam currently blends around 63,000 tons/year of fuel ethanol with gasoline, market layers said, well below the government's 5% blend target (E5) of 235,000 tons/year established in 2018. The Energy Information Administration said the US imported 7,300t of fuel ethanol to Vietnam last year. However, about 24,200 tons of US ethanol reportedly came to Vietnam through trans-shipment via South Korea, which has a bilateral free trade agreement with Vietnam.
