<article><p class="lead">Ethanol output in Brazil's center-south sugarcane belt rose by 2pc in the first half of September from a year earlier as higher quality raw material allowed mills to boost production.</p><p>Center-south mills delivered 2.11bn liters (885,160 b/d) of ethanol to the market in early September, up from 2.07bn l in the same period last year, according to sugarcane industry association Unica. </p><p>Production of hydrous ethanol, sold as E100 at service stations in Brazil, rose to 1.21bn l in the month through 16 September, up by 1.9pc from a year earlier.</p><p>Output of anhydrous ethanol — used as gasoline blendstock — rose to 903mn l, a 2.2pc increase from the same period in 2021.</p><p>Total ethanol output from the beginning of the 2022-23 center-south crop cycle on 1 April through 16 September reached 20bn l, down by 3.6pc compared with year-prior levels.</p><p>More feedstock and better quality raw material allowed mills to uplift ethanol production in first-half September, despite sending more feedstock towards sugar instead of biofuel.</p><p>"A pick-up in cane crushing activity as well as improving feedstock quality and rising corn-based ethanol production enabled a robust advance in the production of ethanol and sugar," Unica's technical director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues said.</p><p>The production mix in first-half September was 51.9pc for ethanol and 48pc for sugar, versus 55.1pc for the biofueland 44.8pc for the sweetener in the same period last year.</p><p>Producers from center-south Brazil crushed 39.4mn metric tonnes (t) of sugarcane in the first half of September, up by 2.5pc from the same period in 2021. Cumulative feedstock processing since 1 April reached 405.8mn t, down by 6pc from a year earlier.</p><h3>Ethanol sales</h3><p class="lead">Center-south producers sold 1.15bn l of ethanol in the first half of September, down by 2.6pc from a year earlier.</p><p>Exports in the period rose to 53.7mn l, up by 75pc from the same period last year.</p><p>Hydrous ethanol sales to the domestic market fell to 647.7mn l in early September, down by 3.2pc from the same period of 2021, while domestic anhydrous sales fell by 6.7pc to 450.5mn l.</p><p>Cumulative ethanol sales by center-south mills since the start of the 2022-23 crop cycle fell to 13.3bn l, a 0.9pc decrease from the same period last year, according to Unica. Exports in the period rose to 939.3mn l, up by 22pc on the year.</p><p class="bylines">By Laura Guedes</p></article>
