In the 2nd half of July, sugarcane crushing recorded an increase of 4,31% compared to the 2021/2022 harvest

Sugarcane crushing in the second half of July in the Center-South region reached 48,93 million tons, which represents an increase of 4,31% in relation to the quantity recorded in the same period last year, when 46,91 .282,79 million tons were processed. In the accumulated harvest, crushing totaled 305,45 million tons compared to 2021 million tons recorded in the same period in 7,42 – a drop of XNUMX%.

Unica's technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, highlights that “the second half of July intensified the positive trajectory of the first half of the month and marked an increase of 4,31% in crushing. In the month closed, sugarcane processing grew 2,31%, the first positive change in a month in the 2022/2023 harvest. This result is a reflection of the increase in crop productivity and, concomitantly, the industry’s good use of time in this driest period of the year.” Rodrigues adds that “the increase in agricultural yield observed in the month of July should be repeated in the coming periods, due to the low performance of this indicator in the last harvest, which represents the lowest values ​​in the last 10 years, due to drought and the impact of frost” .

The quality of the raw material harvested in the second half of July, measured in kg of ATR per ton of processed sugar cane, increased by 0,57% compared to the same period in the last agricultural cycle, registering 148,26 kg of ATR per ton harvested. In the accumulated result for the harvest, the indicator continues with a drop of 2,42%, reaching 133,56 kg of ATR per ton.

Sugar and ethanol production

Sugar production in the second half of July totaled 3,30 million tons (+8,40%). In the accumulated since the beginning of the 2022/2023 harvest, the production of the sweetener totals 15,97 million tons, compared to 18,37 million tons in the previous cycle (-13,04%).

In the last 15 days of July, 2,41 billion liters (+2,78%) of ethanol were manufactured. Of the total volume produced, hydrous reached 1,41 billion liters (+2,98%), while anhydrous ethanol production totaled 1,00 billion liters (+2,49%). In the current agricultural cycle, alcohol production reached 13,65 billion liters (-4,16%), of which 8,48 billion consist of hydrated ethanol (-5,31%) and 5,17 billion in anhydrous (-2,21%).

The director of Unica highlights that “the final 15 days of July marked a record in the production of anhydrous ethanol in a fortnight. The volume of 1 billion liters manufactured surpassed the previous maximum, of 979 million manufactured in the same period, from the 2021/2022 harvest”.

Of the total biofuel manufactured, production from corn in the second half of July recorded 191,51 million liters, compared to 169,52 million liters in the same period of the 2021/2022 cycle – an increase of 12,97%. In the accumulated since the beginning of the harvest, production reached 1,33 billion liters - an increase of 29,58% compared to the same period last year.

The Unica executive comments that “the greater availability of raw materials during the fortnight, a result of favorable weather conditions for the harvest to be operational, combined with the higher quality of the sugarcane, enabled greater production of sugar and ethanol. With the contribution of corn ethanol producers, the increase of more than 8% in sugar production was accompanied by an increase of almost 2,8% in ethanol production”.

Ethanol sales

In the month of July, production units in the Center-South sold 2,48 billion liters of ethanol, which represents a decrease of 6,63% compared to the same period of the 2021/2022 harvest.

In the domestic market, the volume of hydrated ethanol sold was 1,39 billion liters, which represents a decline of 7,58% compared to the previous year. Domestic sales of anhydrous ethanol, in turn, fell 3,16%, totaling 937,09 million liters in the month. During the harvest, 5,50 billion liters of hydrated ethanol were sold domestically (-7,08%) and 3,35 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol (+1,65%).

According to the director of Unica, “despite the drop in hydrated ethanol output when observing the variation between harvests, July sales registered an increase of 4,11% in relation to June 2022, driven mainly by the volume sold in first fortnight of the month”.

Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 harvest, global sales (domestic market and exports) of production units total 9,50 billion liters of ethanol, which represents a drop of 3,15% compared to the same period in the previous harvest. Of this volume, sales of hydrated ethanol totaled 5,72 billion liters (-9,00%); anhydrous ones, 3,78 billion liters (+7,29%).

CBios market

Data from B3 show that, as of August 8, the obligated party of the RenovaBio program had already acquired around 24,96 million decarbonization credits[1]. This volume represents 69% of the total acquisition target for the current year.