Sugarcane crushing in the 2nd half of August increases by 1,79% compared to the 2021/2022 harvest

Sugarcane crushing in the second half of August in the Center-South region reached 44,03 million tons, registering an increase of 1,79% in relation to the quantity recorded in the same period last year, when 43,25, 366,29 million tons. In the accumulated harvest, crushing totaled 393,47 million tons compared to 2021 million tons recorded in the same period in 6,91 – a drop of XNUMX%.

Unica's technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, comments that “contrary to what was observed in the first half of August, the drier climate in the second half of the month made it possible to advance the harvest which, added to greater agricultural productivity, led to a increase in raw material processed in the period. In particular, the biggest recovery occurred in São Paulo, the main producing state in the Center-South region, with an increase of 2,61% in crushing”.

As of September 01st, 256 units were in operation in the Center-South compared to 259 in the 2021/2022 harvest. In the second half of August, 2 production units finish crushing sugar cane from the current cycle.

The quality of the raw material harvested in the second half of August, measured in kg of ATR per ton of processed sugar cane, fell by 0,33% compared to the same period in the last agricultural cycle, recording 154,46 kg of ATR per ton harvested. In the accumulated harvest, the drop is 1,65% with the indicator showing 138,01 kg of ATR per ton.

Sugar and ethanol production

Sugar production in the second half of August totaled 3,14 million tons (+5,77%). In the accumulated since the beginning of the 2022/2023 harvest, the production of the sweetener totals 21,77 million tons, compared to 24,33 million tons in the previous cycle (-10,54%).

In the second half of August, 2,25 billion liters (-1,23%) of ethanol were manufactured. Of the total volume produced, hydrous reached 1,30 billion liters (-1,52%), while anhydrous ethanol production totaled 947,29 million liters (-0,83%). In the current agricultural cycle, alcohol production reached 17,94 billion liters (-4,29%), of which 10,97 billion consist of hydrated ethanol (-5,28%) and 6,97 billion in anhydrous (-2,71%).

Of the total biofuel manufactured, production from corn in the second half of August recorded 197,44 million liters, compared to 178,43 million liters in the same period of the 2021/2022 cycle – an increase of 10,70%. Accumulated since the beginning of the harvest, production reached 1,69 billion liters - an increase of 26,32% compared to the same period last year.

Rodrigues highlights that “the shift in the production mix towards sugar by almost 2 percentage points in relation to the last harvest can cause a false impression of a change in the behavior of producing units. In fact, this increase is due to the lower participation of autonomous plants in crushing, which went from 16,04% in the last cycle to 14,74% in the 2022/2023 harvest. There is no significant change in the production mix of sugar manufacturing units. However, it is due to the asymmetric effect of crushing recovery between companies and, as a consequence, the lower representation of those that exclusively produce ethanol, that there is a reduction in the mix of this magnitude”.

Ethanol sales

In the month of August, production units in the Center-South sold 2,69 billion liters of ethanol, which represents an increase of 7,51% compared to the same period in the 2021/2022 harvest.

In the domestic market, the volume of hydrated ethanol sold was 1,38 billion liters, which means a drop of 6,22% compared to the same period in the previous harvest. Domestic sales of anhydrous ethanol, in turn, followed in the opposite direction, totaling 1,08 billion liters in the month, registering growth of 20,50%. In the accumulated result for the harvest, 6,89 billion liters of hydrated ethanol were sold domestically (-6,72%) and 4,43 billion liters of anhydrous ethanol (+5,68%).

The Unica executive explains that “the strong outputs in August are materialized thanks to a greater demand for ethanol used as an additive in gasoline. In addition to the consumption of the product in the states of the Center-South region, cabotage operations to the Northeast region, which recently began crushing, contributed to the increase in sales of the production units. This movement should be resolved as sugarcane processing in the region intensifies over the next fortnight.”

Since the beginning of the 2022/2023 harvest, production units have sold 12,20 billion liters of ethanol, which represents a drop of 0,87% compared to the same period in the previous harvest. Of this volume, sales of hydrated ethanol totaled 7,21 billion liters (-7,89%); anhydrous ones, 4,99 billion liters (+11,39%).

CBios market

Data from B3 show that, until September 09th, 20,81 million CBios were issued in 2022. Regarding the volume traded and possession of credits, until the date mentioned above, the obligated party of the RenovaBio program has already acquired around 26 million decarbonization credits[1]. This volume represents 71% of the total acquisition target for the current year.