UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced that production units in Brazil’s south-central region processed 3.34 million metric tons of sugarcane during the first half of March, producing 182.79 million liters (48.29 million gallons) of ethanol and 46,850 tons of sugar.

The production of corn ethanol reached 31,360 liters during the first half of March, up 69.71 percent when compared to the same period of last year.

UNICA also noted that 75.77 million liters of anhydrous ethanol was reprocesses into hydrous ethanol during the first half of March.

Since the beginning of the current harvest season in April 2017, 588.47 million tons of sugarcane has been processed by mills in the south-central region, down from 599.17 million tons during the same period of the previous harvest season.

Ethanol production from April 2017 through the first half of March reached 25.66 billion liters, including 10.44 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol and 15.22 billion liters of hydrous ethanol.

Sales by processing units in the south-central region reached 1.06 billion liters during the first half of March, with 1.03 billion liters of that volume sold domestically.

In the domestic market, 657.45 million liters of hydrous ethanol was sold during the first half of March, up 33.16 percent when compared to the same period of last year, and up 21.75 percent when compared to the second half of February. Domestic sales of anhydrous ethanol reached 375.87 million liters.

Since the beginning of the current harvest season, mills in the south-central region of sold 25.24 billion liters of ethanol, including 23.78 billion liters sold domestically and 1.46 billion liters sold for export. In the domestic market, 14.75 billion liters of hydrous ethanol was sold, up 7.1 percent when compared to the same period of the previous harvest.