Brazil’s sugar exports stall this season

Brazil’s sugar exports reached 17.7m tons in the 2018/19 crop cycle from April 18 until January 19, compared to 24.6m tons last year. Sugar mills in Brazil are preferring ethanol production over sugar production, a result of a global sugar glut producing low returns for sugar on the global market. Higher petrol prices have also fueled demands for ethanol in Brazil.

Brazil’s demand for ethanol should reach around 36.5bn litres in this crop year, with forecasts for ethanol production at 33.3bn litres (including 0.8bn litres from corn). In the last harvest, the South American country produced 28.4bn litres of ethanol.

The choice means Brazil has lost its spot to India as the world’s largest sugar exporter. According to the US Department of Agriculture, India’s sugar production may rise 5.2% to a record 35.9m tons in the 2018/19 crop year, whereas Brazil’s output is forecast to tumble 21% to a 30.6m tons.

Unica data displays Brazil’s sugar and ethanol production behavior for the last five seasons: 

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