Czarnikow, a British food and services trading company, has increased its sugarcane crushing forecast from 11 million tons to 551 million tons of sugarcane for the 2022/23 crop in Brazil’s Center-South. About 32.7 million tons of sugar and 25.3 billion liters of sugarcane ethanol are now expected. “Unlike past crops, we cannot assert that there will be an expansion of the sugar mix, as the keyword for this crop would be flexibility”, said the trading consultant, Catarina Junqueira. The recent forecast is based on the weather conditions this year. In relation to the sugarcane mix, Junqueira points out that, with high ethanol prices, and the currency appreciation, biofuel is around 200 points above sugar. In addition, ethanol offers greater financial resources and makes it even more attractive for mills to rethink their production mix. “We estimate a production mix of 44.3% in the Center-South region, a slight drop in relation to the 2021/22 cycle (45%), but far from a max ethanol mix like the 2018/19 and 2019/20 cycles”, she said.
Source: Jornal Cana (*Translated by Ia Niani)