08/24/2023 – 2:22 pm
São Paulo, 24th – Sugarcane crushing by mills in the Center-South of Brazil reached 47.87 million tons in the first half of this month, representing an increase of 23.38% compared to the same period of the previous 2022 harvest /23, of 38.80 million t. The information is part of a fortnightly survey by the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry Union (Unica), released this Thursday, 24.
According to Unica, although the data are positive, “it is worth noting that one-off rains jeopardized the operation of the harvest in some regions of the Center-South, marginally draining the use of time. This fact serves as a warning not to forget the risk arising from El Niño, whose uncertainty still hangs over the potential crushing of the 2023/24 harvest. It should also be remembered that, in relation to the 2020/21 cycle, the last one whose crushing exceeded the 600 million mark, the processing of this crop year is delayed by over 14 million tons”.
In the first half of August, 261 production units were in operation in the Center-South region, of which 244 sugarcane processing units, seven companies that manufacture ethanol from corn and nine flex-fuel plants. In the same period, in the 2022/23 harvest, there were 259 production units in operation.
With regard to the quality of the raw material, the level of Total Recoverable Sugars (ATR) recorded in the first half of August was 149.23 kg per ton of sugarcane, compared to 152.57 kg per ton in 2022/23 harvest – negative variation of 2.19%.
In the first half of August, 2.35 billion liters (+16.43%) of ethanol were manufactured by the Center-South units. Of the total volume produced, hydrated ethanol reached 1.42 billion liters (+22.46%), while anhydrous ethanol production totaled 921.63 million liters (+8.19%).
Of the total ethanol production recorded in the first half of August, 12% came from corn, whose production was 282.02 million liters this year, compared to 165.68 million liters in the same period of the 22/23 cycle – an increase of 70.22%.
Unica points out that “it is evident that the conjunction of the high agricultural productivity observed in the sugarcane fields and the robust growth in the production of corn ethanol will be more than sufficient compensation for any declines in the quality of the sugarcane and higher relative destination of the ATR for sugar production. Ethanol supply will not shrink despite these conditions and, as a result, there is a guarantee that producers will meet the volumes required for blending anhydrous ethanol, the demand for hydrous ethanol and meeting the decarbonization targets for this and next year , through the issuance of Cbios”.
Sugar production in the first half of August totaled 3.46 million tons. This quantity, when compared to that registered in the 2022/23 harvest, of 2.63 million tons, represents an increase of 31.22%.
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