UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced ethanol production was down nearly 9 percent during the 2020-’21 harvest season, which ended March 31, but was still the third highest production volume on record.

Mills in the south-central region of Brazil processed 605.46 million metric tons of sugarcane during the 2020-’21 harvest season, up 2.56 percent when compared to the previous harvest. An estimated 46.07 percent of sugarcane went to sugar production, with the remainder used to produce ethanol.

Ethanol production fell to 30.37 billion liters (8.02 billion gallons) for the full harvest season, down 8.7 percent when compared to the 2019-’20 harvest. The reduction is primarily attributed to lower demand for fuels caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 30.37 billion liters of ethanol produced during the 2020-’21 harvest season includes 20.68 billion liters of hydrous ethanol, down 11.31 percent, and 9.69 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol, down 2.65 percent. Despite the nearly 9 percent drop, UNICA said the volume of ethanol produced during the recently concluded harvest season is still the third highest on record.

Corn ethanol accounted for 8.45 percent of total ethanol production during the 2020-’21 harvest season, reaching 2.57 billion liters. When compared to the 2019-’20 harvest season, corn ethanol production was up 58.13 percent.

Mills in the south-central region of Brazil sold an estimated 30.79 billion liters of ethanol during the 2020-’21 harvest season, down 7.49 percent when compared to the previous harvest season. Of that volume, 28.10 billion liters was sold domestically, down 10.44 percent, and 2.7 billion liters was destined for export, up 40.88 percent.