In the second half of January, the sale of ethanol by the production units in the Center-South region to the domestic and foreign markets totaled 1.36 billion liters. This is the first fortnight in the 2020/2021 harvest marked by the increase in the volume sold in the domestic market compared to the same period of the 2019/2020 harvest: 1.25 billion liters this year against 1.23 billion liters in the same period. previous year - growth of 1.64%. Exports were 105.04 million liters in the fortnight.

In January, the ethanol sales by the production units reached 2.61 billion liters, of which 2.46 billion liters were destined for the domestic market and 146.72 million for the international market.

The sale of hydrated ethanol to meet domestic demand reached 1.65 billion liters in January this year, compared to 1.76 billion liters in the same month of 2020. The volume of anhydrous ethanol sold, in turn, reached 810.05 million liters in the first month of 2021, registering an increase of 10.53% in comparison with the same period last year.

“The increase in the volume of anhydrous ethanol traded by the production units reflects their capacity to meet the level required for mandatory mixing in gasoline, which reduces the need to import biofuel,” explains UNICA's technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues .

In the accumulated period since the beginning of the 2020/2021 harvest until February 1, the sale of ethanol by companies in the Center-South accumulated a retraction of 9.24%, totaling 25.92 billion liters. Of this total, exports increased by 43.49%, totaling 2.36 billion liters, and sales in the domestic market registered a reduction of around 12.46%, reaching 23.56 billion liters.

The total volume of hydrated products sold to the domestic market since the beginning of the 2020/2021 harvest until February 1, 2021 decreased by 16.83%, reaching 16.16 billion liters, against 19.43 billion liters registered in the same period of the cycle previous.

Alcohol destined for sanitizing and industrial purposes maintains an upward trend, with sales increasing by 14% during the second half of January. The total marketed from April 2020 to February 1, 2021 reached 1.09 billion liters, a volume 31.16% higher than that registered until the same date of the 2019/2020 harvest (834.80 million liters), and 8.89 % higher than the total sold during the last agricultural cycle (1.01 billion liters).

Milling and production 

The amount of sugarcane processed by the units in the Center-South totaled 44,500 tons in the second half of January. In the accumulated of the 2020/2021 harvest, the crushing reached 597.63 million tons, an increase of 3.16% when compared to the same period of the previous cycle (579.30 million tons).

Up-to-date survey with the companies indicates that, in this off-season, 2 sugarcane processing units, 5 exclusive corn units and 2 other plants processing both raw materials are operating in the Center-South region.

“During the off-season, the supply of ethanol from corn and the use of producers' stocks should prevail, given that the beginning of the sugarcane harvest in the Center-South region should happen only at the end of the first quarter”, says Rodrigues.

Due to the lower availability of raw materials at the end of the harvest, sugar and ethanol production remains low. The fortnightly production of sugar in this period totaled 1.86 thousand tons and ethanol 120.25 million liters.

Of the total ethanol produced in the fortnight, 115.69 million liters were made from corn. In the accumulated since the beginning of the current agricultural cycle, the volume of corn ethanol reached 2.09 billion liters, representing 7.09% of the total biofuel produced.

In the aggregate since the beginning of the harvest until February 1, 2021, sugar production reached 38.20 million tons compared to 26.49 million tons in the same period of the last harvest.

The increase in sweetener production was accompanied by a jump in exports that, in 2020, reached 30.63 million tons according to SECEX data. This index is the highest in the last 10 years of the historical series.

In the domestic market, the volume of sugar sold in the 2020/2021 harvest reached 7.58 million tons on February 1, 2021, which represents an increase of 3.11% in relation to the quantity sold in the same period in the previous agricultural cycle. .

In the case of ethanol, accumulated production reached 29.54 billion liters, of which 9.66 billion were anhydrous and 19.88 billion hydrated. The latter recorded a drop of 11.49% when compared to the volume accumulated in the 2019/2020 harvest (22.46 billion liters).