The Center-South region of Brazil ended the 20/21 harvest with 605.46 million tons of processed sugarcane, representing a 2.56% increase over the 590.36 million tons of the 19/20 harvest season.
The quality of the raw material reached 144.72 kg of Total Recoverable Sugar (TRS) per metric ton of sugarcane in the current cycle, up from 138.57 kg in the 19/20 harvest (+ 4.44%). Such growth and expanded crushing led to a 7.11% gain in the total quantity of available product, which added up to 87.62 million tons of TRS.
Preliminary data from the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) indicate that plantation yields in the 20/21 harvest rose to 77.9 tons of sugarcane from 76.1 tons in the 2019/2020 cycle (2.3% growth). Estimates for the area harvested in the Center-South in the 20/21 cycle point to 7.77 million hectares, compared to 7.76 million estimated for 19/20.
Sugar and ethanol production
Even with all the challenges brought forth by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Center-South region of Brazil completed the 2020/2021 harvest with 46.07% of total raw material processed into sugar. As a result, 38.46 million tons of the commodity were processed, representing a 43.73% increase over 26.76 million tons in the previous cycle.
On the other hand, mobility restrictions and lower demand for fuels were behind a decline in ethanol production in the 20/21 harvest. Total production of the biofuel fell to 30.37 billion liters, declining by 8.70% in relation to the 19/20 harvest. Of this volume, 9.69 billion liters referred to anhydrous ethanol (-2.65%) and 20.68 billion liters to hydrous ethanol (-11.31%). Despite the drop, the volume produced was the third-largest in the industry’s history.
Production of corn-based ethanol reached 2.57 billion liters in the current cycle, climbing 58.13% in relation to the 19/20 harvest. Corn-based ethanol accounted for 8.45% of total biofuel production in the Center-South.
@SugarcaneOrg
