October 19, 2018
BY Erin Krueger
UNICA, the Brazilian sugarcane industry association, has announced the volume of sugarcane processed by mills in the south-central region of the country was down in late September. Sales of hydrous ethanol, however, remained high.
According to UNICA, mills in the south-central region of Brazil processed 27.64 million tons of sugarcane during the second half of September, down 31.68 percent when compared to the same period of last year.
Since the beginning of the current harvest period, which began in April, mills in the region have processed 457.93 million tons of sugarcane, down 2.31 percent when compared to the same period of the previous season.
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To date, UNICA said five units have closed the 2018-’19 harvest. An additional 32 mills were expected to stop operations for the season during the first half of October.
Mills in the region produced 1.28 million tons of sugar during the second half of September, down 55.01 percent when compared to the same period of last year. Since the beginning of the harvest, sugar production has reached 22.27 million tons, down from 29.34 million tons during the same period of last year.
Ethanol production reached 1.63 billion liters (430.6 million gallons) during the second half of September, down 19.81 percent. The 1.63 billion gallons of production included 493.75 million liters of anhydrous ethanol and 1.14 billion liters of hydrous ethanol. UNICA estimates approximately 66.92 percent of the sugarcane processed during the second half of September went to ethanol production, up from 53.45 percent during the same period of last year.
Since the beginning of the current harvest, ethanol production has reached 24.38 billion liters, including 7.54 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol and 16.84 billion liters of hydrous ethanol. The production of hydrous ethanol is up 51.87 percent when compared to the same period of last year.
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Units in the south-central region of Brazil sold 1.33 billion liters of ethanol during the second half of September, up 8.54 percent when compared to the same period of last year. This included 83.15 billion liters destined for export and 1.25 billion liters sold domestically.
Since the beginning of the current season, mills in the region have sold 14.91 billion liters of ethanol, including 858.15 million destined for export and 14.05 billion liters sold domestically.
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