Sugarcane crushing for the 2025/26 harvest has accumulated a 2,36% decline up to December 16, 2025. According to the Brazilian Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry Union (Unica), in the bi-weekly update of the 2025/2026 sugarcane harvest in the Center-South region for the first half of December, crushing reached 598,19 million tons by that date — compared to 612,67 million tons recorded in the same period of the previous cycle.
In the first half of December, production units in the Center-South region processed 5,92 million tons, registering a decrease compared to the 8,81 million tons of the 2024/2025 harvest. During the first half of the month, the entity indicates that 90 production units operated in the Center-South region, with 71 units processing sugarcane, ten companies producing ethanol from corn, and nine flex-fuel plants. In the same period of the previous harvest, 127 production units were in operation.
In total since the beginning of the harvest, 208 units had already ceased operations by December 16th, compared to 209 mills in the same period of the previous cycle. For the second half of the month, another 36 production units reported their intention to end the harvest.
Regarding the quality of the raw material, in the accumulated harvest up to December 16th, the indicator marked 138,38 kg of ATR per ton, registering a decrease of 2,21% compared to the value observed in the same period of the previous cycle.
Sugar production in the first fifteen days of December totaled only 254,24 tons, registering a 28,66% drop compared to the amount recorded in the same period of the 2024/2025 harvest (356,35 tons). In the accumulated period from the beginning of the harvest until December 16th, the production of the sweetener totaled 40,16 million tons, compared to 39,81 million tons in the previous cycle.
In the first half of December, ethanol production by plants in the Center-South region reached 740,61 million liters, with 393,59 million liters of hydrated ethanol (-20,62%) and 347,02 million liters of anhydrous ethanol (+30,18%). In the accumulated total for the current agricultural cycle up to December 16th, biofuel production totaled 30,27 billion liters (-5,37%), with 18,72 billion liters of hydrated ethanol (-8,17%) and 11,55 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol (-0,43%).
Of the total ethanol obtained in the first half of December, 54,14% was produced from corn, registering a production of 400,96 million liters this year, compared to 377,97 million liters in the same period of the 2024/2025 cycle – an increase of 6,08%. In the accumulated period from the beginning of the harvest until December 16th, corn ethanol production reached 6,43 billion liters – an increase of 14,49% compared to the same period last year.
In the first half of December, ethanol sales totaled 1,53 billion liters. The volume of anhydrous ethanol sold during this period was 582,49 million liters – an increase of 18,03% – while hydrated ethanol registered sales of 943,22 million liters – an increase of 8,18%.
In the domestic market, the volume of hydrated ethanol sold by mills in the Center-South region totaled 582,49 million liters, representing an increase of 18,33% compared to the same period of the previous harvest. Sales of anhydrous ethanol, in turn, reached 893,96 million liters, an increase of 5,53%.
In the accumulated period from the beginning of the harvest until December 16th, ethanol sales by units in the Center-South region totaled 24,85 billion liters, registering a decrease of 1,64%. The accumulated volume of hydrated ethanol totaled 15,47 billion liters (-5,34%), while that of anhydrous ethanol reached 9,37 billion liters (+5,14%).
Data from B3 shows that in 2025, the issuance of decarbonization credits by biofuel producers reached 43,14 million, the largest annual amount ever offered since the beginning of RenovaBio, and the amount retired by fuel distributors totaled 40,06 million credits. Therefore, the balance of CBios carried over to 2026 totaled approximately 19,50 million credits.
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