Brazil’s sugarcane industry faced a slowdown in processing during the first half of November, according to UNICA. While ethanol production declined during the same period, ethanol sales showed a notable increase.
In the south-central region, sugarcane mills processed 16.46 million metric tons in the first two weeks of November, a 52.81% drop compared to last year. Since the harvest season began on April 1, total sugarcane processing has reached 582.61 million metric tons, a decrease of 2.24% year-over-year.
Ethanol production during the first half of November totalled 1.06 billion litres (280.02 million gallons), marking significant declines in key categories. Hydrous ethanol production fell 30.38% to 608.08 million litres, while anhydrous ethanol production dropped 29.51% to 450.49 million litres. However, ethanol derived from corn bucked the trend, climbing 17.18% to 327.87 million litres and making up 31% of total production.
Despite the recent downturn, total ethanol production for the season reached 29.92 billion litres, a 4.5% increase compared to last year. Hydrous ethanol contributed 19 billion litres, an increase of 12.01%, while anhydrous ethanol production declined by 6.42% to 10.92 billion litres. Corn ethanol production surged 27.02%, hitting 4.82 billion litres.
Ethanol sales painted a brighter picture. During the first half of November, mills in the region sold 1.45 billion litres, a 13.03% rise from the same period last year. Domestic sales included 888.6 million litres of hydrous ethanol, up 14.36%, and 490.58 million litres of anhydrous ethanol, up 7.18%.
Overall, ethanol sales since the start of the current harvest season totalled 22.32 billion litres, a 14.36% increase. This included 14.42 billion litres of hydrous ethanol, up 25.42%, and 7.9 billion litres of anhydrous ethanol, which saw a slight decline of 1.51%.
