RIO DE JANEIRO, June 9 -- Brazil's oil exports to China increased threefold in the first five months of this year, making Beijing the largest consumer of Brazilian oil in the world, said daily Folha de Sao Paulo on Tuesday.

According to Folha, Brazil exported 5.4 million tons of oil to China from January to May, accounting for 35 percent of Brazil's total oil exports in the same period. The amount of oil shipped to China is twice as much as that to the United States.

The rise in China's purchase of Brazilian oil came at a time when Brazil's state-controlled oil giant Petrobras tried to boost its relations with China. Petrobras signed some financing agreements with China during a recent visit to Brazil by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

China's higher demand for oil also helped Brazil achieve record oil exports of 15 million tons from January to May, up 80 percent from the same period last year.

However, as oil prices have fallen significantly over the past months, the record sales did not generate corresponding high revenues.

With increased oil purchases, China has become the largest buyer of four major Brazilian products. The other three are soybeans, iron ore and cellulose.

China replaced the United States to become Brazil's largest trade partner in 2009. The Sino-Brazilian trade value amounted to 86.67 billion U.S. dollars in 2014.