São Paulo – From January 1st to December 1st this year, 510.5 million tonnes of sugarcane were processed at plants in Mid-South Brazil. The volume is up 4.62% from the same period of last year (487.9 million tonnes). The figures were disclosed this Monday (10th) by the Sugarcane industry Union (Unica).
According to Unica, dry weather in the last few months has favoured the harvesting, and may cause the volume of processed cane this year to exceed the 518.5 million tonne estimate dating from the beginning of the year.
Year-to-date, 32.9 million tonnes of sugar were made, as against 31.08 million tonnes in the same period of 2011 (up 5.8%). The ethanol output stood at 20.3 billion litres (up 0.5% from last year), being 8.4 billion litres of anhydrous ethanol (up 8.1% from 2011) and 11.9 billion litres of hydrated ethanol (down 4.2%), used in bi-fuel cars (which can be fuelled by ethanol and gasoline).
Since April, ethanol sales have slightly exceeded the volume in the same period of last year. From April to November this year, 14.92 billion litres of ethanol were made in the Mid-South, up 1.76% from the same period of last year. Of those, 12.33 billion litres went to the domestic market, and 2.59 billion litres were exported.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum