Sugar production in Brazil’s key Center-South region increased by 15.72% in the first half of September compared to the same period last year, reaching 3.62 million metric tons, according to industry group UNICA on Thursday.
During this period, sugarcane crushing amounted to 45.97 million tons, marking a 6.94% year-on-year rise, UNICA stated.
The total recoverable sugars (TRS) per ton of sugarcane stood at 154.58 kilograms, slightly lower than the 160.07 kilograms recorded in the same period last year. However, this level was above the average TRS for the year to date, which is 134.08 kilograms per ton, reflecting a 3.93% decrease from the previous year.
Luciano Rodrigues, director of sector intelligence at UNICA, noted that the proportion of sugarcane allocated to sugar production dropped by 0.8 percentage points on average in the Center-South. It decreased from 54.2% in the second half of August to 53.5% in the first half of September.
Ethanol production in the first half of September totaled 2.33 billion liters, down from 2.45 billion liters in the previous period, UNICA added.
Of this, over 390 million liters were derived from corn, marking a nearly 16% increase in ethanol produced from the grain compared to the previous year.
