LONDON, January 30. /TASS/. Russia outpaced the United States in 2023 in terms of diesel fuel deliveries to Brazil, becoming the top exporter of this petroleum product to the South American country, the Financial Times (FT) said, citing Brazilian government data at its disposal.

According to statistics, the Latin American nation imported 6.1 mln metric tons of diesel fuel worth a total of $4.5 bln from Russia and "purchases of [Russian] fuel oil rose by almost 400 per cent," the FT said. "The jump in diesel imports last year means Russia has overtaken the US as Brazil’s largest supplier of the fuel," the authoritative financial newspaper added, without giving precise figures of diesel deliveries from the US.

The dramatic increase in Russian diesel fuel purchases has "helped to control prices for the consumer," Brazilian government officials told the newspaper.