China has surpassed the United States to become the biggest consumer of Brazilian oil, after a threefold increase in Brazilian oil exports to China so far this year, Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

The media outlet quoted a news report from Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo as saying Brazil sold 5.4 million tonnes of oil to China in the first five months of this year. This accounted for about 35 percent of total oil exports by the South American nation in the period. It was also twice as much as sales of Brazilian oil to the United States in the same period, according to the report.

The uptick in Brazilian oil exports to China comes as Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant Petrobras is boosting its relations with Beijing.

During a visit of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to Brazil last month, the two nations announced Petrobras would get a US$10-billion financing package from three Chinese lenders including China Development Bank. Neither administration specified whether China would be guaranteed a certain amount of oil in return.

In 2009, China Development Bank granted loans of US$10 billion to Petrobras in return for China receiving as many as 150,000 barrels of oil per day in the first year of the deal and 200,000 barrels a day over a following nine-year period.

Xinhua noted China has become the largest buyer of four major Brazilian products, including soya beans, iron ore, cellulose and oil.

China has been Brazil’s largest trading partner since 2009. Bilateral trade stood at US$86.67 billion in 2014.