SAO PAULO: Sugar production in Brazil’s key centre-south region rose 15.96 percent year-on-year in the first half of August, hitting 3.62 million metric tons, industry group UNICA said on Friday.
Sugarcane crushing totalled 47.63 million tons in the period, up 8.17 percent on a yearly basis, UNICA added in a statement.
Yet while sugar output rose versus the same period in 2024, total recoverable sugars (TRS) per kilogram remained below historic levels, UNCIA noted in the statement.
TRS reached 144.83 kilogram per ton of sugarcane, compared to 151.17 kg per ton in the 2024/25 harvest, it said. As a result, the proportion of harvested sugarcane going towards sugar production rather than ethanol hit 55percent.
Total ethanol production in the centre-south region fell 5.2 percent to 2.19 billion litres as declines in sugarcane ethanol were partially offset by an increase in corn-based ethanol output, according to the statement.