Itochu plans to pull out of PetroVietnam ethanol JV

In Vietnam, Itochu intends to pull out of its JV with PetroVietnam for the ethanol plant at Binh Phuoc with slow domestic biofuels sales cited as the reason for the departure. PetroVietnam as instructed the Japanese company to sell its shares to other partners if it is certain it wants to pull out but that PetroVietnam does not want to buy more shares. It expects E5 sales to improve after the mandate goes nationwide in 2015. Currently the mandate is only valid in major cities and seven provinces beginning in December 2014.