Brazilian sugarcane crushing surpasses 2018/2019 harvest results

The amount of  brazilian sugarcane processed by the Central South region’s production units reached 10.84m tons in the second half of November, with a significant decrease of 25.96% when compared to the 14.64m tons registered in the same fortnight period of last year.

According to UNICA’s technical director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, “this retreat was expected due to the beginning of the rainy season and the anticipation of the end of the harvest by most crushing plants.”

With the harvest practically finished in the Center-South region, the amount crushed reached 575.25m tons accumulated since the beginning of the 2019/2020 cycle until December 1st, higher than the 573.17m tons processed in the whole of the 2018/2019 harvest.

“Until the end of December, the grinding can reach 580m tons, but the result of the current season depends on the volume to be processed between January and March 2020,” said Rodrigues.

By December 1st, 196 units had ceased operations, compared with 137 by the same date in 2018. These 196 companies accounted for 71% of the total crushing of the Center-South in the 2018/2019 harvest and processed on average 1,8% more than last season.

For December, 67 units are expected to complete their operations: 42 in the first half and 15 in the last half of the month.

Quality of the raw material

The amount of Total Recoverable Sugars (TRS) reached 141.60 kg in the final 15 days of November, 17.10% above the value observed in the same fortnight of 2018 (120.92 kg per ton).

In the accumulated season, the indicator remains at the same level as in 2018/2019. Until December 1st, it reached 139.22 kg per ton versus 138.95 kg per ton in the same period of 2018.

Sugar and ethanol production

Sugar production totaled 337,210 tons in the second half of November, compared to 532,830 tons in the same half of 2018. In the accumulated since the beginning of the harvest until December 1, the amount produced totaled 26.41m tons.

Regarding ethanol, biweekly production totaled 770.15m liters (297.40m liters of anhydrous ethanol and 472.75m liters of hydrous ethanol), very close to the 747.84m liters registered in the previous year.

In the accumulated 2019/2020 season, the volume produced reached 31.72bn liters, being 9.68bn liters of anhydrous ethanol and 22.04bn liters of hydrous ethanol. This result already represents the largest ethanol production in the history of the Center-South region. The previous record occurred last season, when 30.95bn liters were manufactured.

Contributing to this growth is the extraordinary increase in corn ethanol production, already incorporated in these figures. Production totaled 889.78m liters from April to November, against 436.27m liters in the same period of 2018. Production reached 77.63m liters in the last 15 days of November.

Reflecting these figures, from the beginning of the harvest until December 1, only 34.61% of processed sugarcane was destined to sugar production, compared to 35.67% in 2018. Considering only the last half of November, this percentage reached a negligible 23.06%, the lowest percentage ever observed for this fortnight.

Ethanol Sales

In November, ethanol sales by the Center-South production units totaled 2.83bn liters, of which 143.81m liters were destined for export and 2.69bn liters for the domestic market.

The volume of anhydrous ethanol sold to the domestic market reached 746.60m liters. Regarding hydrous ethanol, the monthly sale is higher than last year’s – a behavior observed in all months of the 2019/2020 harvest. In November, 1.94bn liters were sold in the Brazilian market, up 5.85% over 2018. Of this amount, 994.52m liters correspond to sales during the last 15 days of the month.

Source: Unica

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