UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced that sugarcane crushing for the second half of April was down nearly 23 percent. Ethanol production was also down. Ethanol sales, however, were up more than 15 percent.

Only 29.59 million tons of sugarcane was processed by mills in the south-central region of Brazil during the final half of April, down 22.51 percent when compared to the same period of last year. For the full month, sugarcane processing reached 45.26 million tons, down 25.44 percent from April 2020.

Ethanol production for April was at 2.07 billion liters (546.84 million gallons), down 20.13 percent when compared to the same month of last year. Production included 1.57 billion liters of hydrous ethanol, down 20.54 percent, and 448,000 liters of hydrous ethanol, down 27.26 percent.

Corn ethanol production for the second half of April was at 117 million liters, up 4.41 percent from the 112.06 million liters reported for the same period of 2020. Since the beginning of the current harvest period, which began April 1, corn ethanol production has reached 228.43 million liters, up 15.16 percent.

Ethanol sales for the second half of April reached 1.16 billion liters, up 18.08 percent when compared to the same period of 2020. For the full month, sales were at 2.15 billion liters, up 18.41 percent.

Domestically, April sales of hydrous ethanol were at 1.44 billion liters, up 16.27 percent, while sales of anhydrous ethanol reached 638.24 million liters, up 27.86 percent.

Sales of ethanol for purposes other than fuel during the second half of April fell to 35.3 million liters, down 35.83 percent when compared to the pervious year. Sales for the full month were at 72.01 million liters, down 34.18 percent.