HANOI, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam successfully produced the country's first batch of 2,000 tons of ethanol, a bio-fuel for motor vehicles, local newspaper the People reported Friday.

    The fuel is made from sugar cane and cassava. It could be added into petrol and produce ethanol fuel.

    The mixture would have lower retail price than commonly-used 92-octane petrol in the country and help protect the environment, said the newspaper.

    The Dong Xanh Joint-Stock Company of Vietnam began building the ethanol plant in the central province of Quang Nam in 2007 as part of the government project to develop bio-fuel by 2015.

    The plant is expected to turn out 100,000 tons of ethanol annually, said the newspaper.

    A large volume of the product will be sold in the domestic market. The rest will be exported to Japan and the Republic of Korea.