June 3, 2021
BY Erin Voegele
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced that anhydrous ethanol production was up significantly during the first half of May. Ethanol sales for the period were up more than 10 percent when compared to the prior year.
According to UNICA, 41.07 million tons of sugarcane was processed by mills in the south-central region of Brazil during the first half of May, down 3.01 percent when compared to the same period of 2020. Since the beginning of the current harvest season, which began April 1, total sugarcane processing has reached 86.31 million tons, down 16.24 percent when compared to the same period of the previous harvest season.
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Ethanol production for the first half of May was at 1.82 billion liters (480.79 million gallons), down 0.61 percent when compared to the same period of 2020. Of that volume, 1.21 billion liters was hydrous ethanol, down 8.32 percent, while 603 million liters was anhydrous ethanol, up 19.65 percent.
Corn ethanol production for the first half of May was at 106.92 million liters, up from 95.04 million liters produced during the same period of last year. Corn ethanol production since the beginning of the current harvest season has reached 338.36 million liters, up 15.33 percent when compared to the same period of 2020.
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Mills in the south-central region of Brazil sold 1.18 billion liters of ethanol during the first half of May, up 10.35 percent when compared to the same period of last year. A total of 3.33 billion liters have been sold since the beginning of the current harvest season, up 15.56 percent when compared to the same period of the previous harvest.
Domestically, sales of hydrous ethanol reached 779.97 million liters for the first half of May, up 5.47 percent. Domestic sales of anhydrous ethanol were up 30.28 percent, reaching 382.47 million liters.
The Michigan Advanced Biofuels Coalition and Green Marine are partnering to accelerating adoption of sustainable biofuels to improve air quality and reduce GHG emissions in Michigan and across the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.
The USDA reduced its outlook for 2024-’25 soybean oil use in biofuel production in its latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, released April 10. The outlook for soybean oil pricing was revised up.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration reduced its 2025 forecasts for renewable diesel and biodiesel in its latest Short-Term Energy Outlook, released April 10. The outlook for “other biofuel” production, which includes SAF, was raised.
FutureFuel Corp. on March 26 announced the restart of its 59 MMgy biodiesel plant in Batesville, Arkansas. The company’s annual report, released April 4, indicates biodiesel production was down 24% last year when compared to 2023.
Neste has started producing SAF at its renewable products refinery in Rotterdam. The refinery has been modified to enable Neste to produce up to 500,000 tons of SAF per year. Neste’s global SAF production capacity is now 1.5 million tons.