UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced mills in the south-central region produced significantly more ethanol during the first two weeks of the new harvest season when compared to the same period of the previous season.

The new sugarcane harvest season began on April 1. During the first half of the month, mills in the south-central region processed 22.21 million tons of sugarcane, up 25.64 percent when compared to the same period of the 2017-’18 harvest.

According to UNICA, 170 facilities were processing sugarcane by April 15, up from 162 facilities at the same time last year. An additional 57 facilities are expected to process sugarcane this season.

Sugar production during the two-week period reached 32.13 kilograms, down 19.67 percent when compared to the same period of last year. Ethanol production reached 993.26 million liters (262.39 million gallons), up 44.65 percent when compared with the first two weeks of the 2017-’18 harvest season. The 993.26 million liters produced during the first half of April includes 136.97 million liters of anhydrous ethanol and 856.29 million liters of hydrous ethanol.

Corn ethanol accounted for 26.82 million liters of the 993.26 million liters produced during the first half of April, including 18.26 million liters of hydrous ethanol and 8.56 million liters of anhydrous ethanol.

According to UNICA, 878.02 million liters of ethanol were sold by plants in the south-central region of Brazil during the first half of April, including 861.96 million liters sold into the domestic market, up 12.8 percent when compared with the same period of last year. Approximately 16.06 million liters was destined for export.

Domestically, sales of anhydrous ethanol reached 262.41 million liters, with hydrous ethanol sales reaching 599.55 million liters, up 29.4 percent when compared to the same period of last year.