UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has released data for the first half of December, reporting mills in the south-central region continued to produce and sell large quantities of ethanol during the two-week period.

Mills in the south-central region processed 10.44 million tons of sugarcane during the first half of December. Since the beginning of the season, the mills have processed 578.76 million tons, down from 588.93 million tons during the same period of the previous harvest.

UNICA said it expected approximately 60 production units to continue operations through the second half of December.

Since the beginning of the harvest, approximately 53.01 percent of the processed sugarcane has gone to ethanol production. The proportion reached a high of 63.17 percent during the second half of November.

Ethanol production reached 464.01 million liters (122.58 million gallons) during the first half of December, including 142.91 million liters of anhydrous ethanol and 351.1 million liters of hydrous ethanol.

Sales by the south-central units reached 1.16 billion liters during the first half of December, with 16.8 million liters destined for export and 1.14 billion liters sold into the domestic Brazilian market. In the domestic market, sales of hydrous ethanol reached 750.75 million liters, up 36.26 percent over the same period of the previous year. Domestic sales of anhydrous ethanol reached 390.62 million liters.