UNICA: Brazil sugar production up 1.25 percent in the first half of April

UNICA, a group representing the industry, announced on Wednesday that sugar production in Brazil’s center-south region reached 731,000 tons during the first six months of April. This is up 1.25 percent from a year ago and beats analyst expectations.

UNICA reported that sugarcane crushing increased by 3% during the period to 16,59 million tonnes.

Luciano Rodrigues of UNICA, the sector intelligence director for sugarcane, stated in a report that the pace of unit startup in this cycle was in line with historical trends, but the rate of recovery could change depending on climate conditions in each sugarcane area.

S&P Global Commodity Insights polled analysts earlier this month who expected a center-south production of sugar of 694,000 tonnes during the period.

According to 23 analysts, the average prediction was that cane crushing would reach 15,16 million tonnes.

After the release of data, raw sugar prices on ICE hit a low of 17,46 cents per pound.

UNICA reported that the total ethanol production in the first two week of April increased by 11.5%, to 918 millions liters. This included 179 million liters anhydrous and 739,000,000 liters hydrous ethanol.

Rodrigues stated that the positive variation in ethanol production compared to previous harvests is due to corn ethanol. This has generated an increase of about 105 million liters when compared to harvest 2024/2025.

Corn ethanol represented 39% of total ethanol production in the period. The report stated that its output had increased by over 41% from the previous year, reaching just under 358 million liters. Reporting by Gabriel Araujo in Sao Paulo and Oliver Griffin in New York. Additional reporting by Marcelo Téixeira in New York. Editing by Alexandra Hudson, David Gregorio and David Gregorio.

(source: Reuters)