Dry weather drives sugar, ethanol production

The dry weather in the South-Central region has allowed sugarcane harvesters to make rapid progress in the 2024/25 season. As a result, sugar and ethanol production volumes so far are higher than at the same time last season, when the segment reported record production.

In the second half of June, sugarcane crushing in the South-Central region was 13% higher than in the same period of the last harvest, according to the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (Unica). With the increase, the volume reached 48.8 million tonnes.

The lack of rain also increased the concentration of sucrose, which increased the supply of raw material. The Total Recoverable Sugars (TRS) content in the fortnight rose 5.16%, to 139.96 kilos per tonne of sugarcane.

As a result, sugar production rose 20.1% in the fortnight to 3.25 million tonnes, while ethanol production rose 18.5% to 2.3 billion liters. The mills increased the amount of sucrose used to produce sugar, which led to a more significant increase in the supply of the commodity.

The production result for the second half of June reinforces the trend that has been observed since the beginning of the season, marked by the acceleration of the harvest. From April 1 to July 1, the volume of sugarcane processed by mills in the South-Central region was 13.3% higher than a year earlier, reaching 238.4 million tonnes.

The chart below shows the sugar export volume shipped from Brazilian ports between January 2021 and May 2024. The data is from DataLiner.

Sugar Export Volume from Brazil | Jan 2021 – May 2024 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

Sugar production rose 15.7% in the South-Central, to 14.2 million tonnes, while ethanol production rose 14.5%, to 11 billion liters. According to Luciano Rodrigues, Unica’s technical director, “so far, the growth in the production has reached 1.93 million tonnes, with 1.63 million tonnes resulting from the advance in sugarcane crushing and only 300,000 tons associated with the change in the production mix”.

Ethanol production has been boosted by corn processing. In the second half of June, the cereal was the raw material for 13% (or 299.58 million liters). Since the start of the harvest, corn ethanol has accounted for 16.3% of production.

The early sugar and ethanol production is also allowing mills to sell more products than a year earlier. With the greater supply of sugar in the South-Central, Brazil increased exports of the commodity from April to June by 27.4% year-on-year, to 7.9 million tonnes. Revenue from exports grew by 25.8% in the period, to $3.9 billion.

In the case of ethanol, total sales of the product by mills in the region increased by 10.9% in June, to 2.8 billion liters. Accumulated sales for the harvest are 22.1% higher at 8.6 billion liters.

In the domestic market, sales of hydrous ethanol, which competes with gasoline and is more competitive than fossil fuel, are stronger.

From the start of the harvest until the end of June, the South-Central has sold 47% more hydrous ethanol than in the same period last harvest, reaching 5.5 billion liters. Sales of anhydrous ethanol (added to gasoline) between April and June were 3.2% lower than a year earlier, totaling 2.9 billion liters.

Source: Valor International

Sharing is caring!