UNICA: Ethanol production, sales down in December
January 19, 2022
BY Erin Voegele
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced that no sugarcane ethanol was produced in the south-central region of Brazil during the second half of December. Corn ethanol production, however, continued.
Since the beginning of the current harvest season, which began April 1, 2021, mills in the south-central region processed 521.67 million metric tons of sugarcane, down 12.67 percent when compared with the same period of the 2020-’21 harvest season.
Mills in the region did not process any sugarcane during the second half of December. Sugarcane ethanol, was, however produced during the first half of the month.
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According to UNICA, hydrous ethanol production reached 182.9 million liters (48.32 million gallons) in December, down 3.76 percent. Anhydrous ethanol production was at 174 million liters, down 4.29 percent, of which 82.7 million liters was produced from corn. Overall, UNICA reported that corn ethanol production was at 232.3 million liters for the month.
Since the beginning of the current harvest season, total hydrous ethanol production was at 15.8 billion liters, down 20.06 percent, while anhydrous ethanol production reached 10.8 billion liters, up 12.75 percent. Of those volumes, corn ethanol accounted for 2.57 billion liters, up 38.12 percent when compared to the same period of the previous harvest season.
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Mills in the south-central region sold 2.15 billion liters of ethanol in December, down 22.7 percent when compared to the same month of the previous year. Of that volume, 1.99 billion liters were sold domestically and 155.38 million liters were destined for export.
Domestically, hydrous ethanol sales fell to 1.12 billion, down 36.31 percent, while sales of anhydrous ethanol expanded to 877.72 million liters, up 2.32 percent.
Sales since the beginning of the current harvest season reached 21.14 billion liters, down 9.32 percent. Of that volume 19.84 billion liters were sold domestically, down 5.97 percent, and 1.3 billion liters were destined for export, down 41.31 percent. Domestic sales included 12.12 billion liters of hydrous ethanol, down 16.48 percent, and 7.73 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol, up 17.15 percent.
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