São Paulo – Year-to-date as of October 1, 411.99 million tonnes of sugarcane were milled at plants in Mid-South Brazil. According to an assessment issued this Tuesday (11) by the Sugarcane Industry Union (Unica), the volume is 7.39% lower than in the same period of the last crop.
In the second half of September, 36.67 million tonnes of raw material were processed. The amount is 34.69% higher than in the same period of the last crop.
Out of the total crop ground by early October, 51.51% were allocated to ethanol production, and 48.49% went to sugar manufacturing. Thus, since the crop began, 25.98 million tonnes of sugar have been produced, which is 4.19% less than in 2010.
Ethahol production dropped even further, at 16.37%. Up until October, 16.9 billion litres of the product were made, both in the anhydrous (which gets mixed into gasoline) or the hydrated variety (used as fuel itself). During the same period of the last crop, 20.3 billion litres were produced.
In a press statement, the Unica’s technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, informed that “[the crop] scenario is in keeping with expectations.” According to him, it is “also natural for the pace of milling to slow down in the coming 15-day periods.”
According to the Unica, approximately 20 plants in the Mid-South have already finished processing their harvests. Most of them are located in traditional regions of São Paulo, where significant crop failure occurred.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
