According to the 3rd Survey of the 2020/21 sugarcane harvest released this week by the CONAB (the national food-supply company), the current harvest of Brazilian sugarcane, 665.1 million tons, approaches the record set in 2015, when 665.6 million tons of cane were harvested. Compared to last season, a growth of 3.5% is forecast. Sugar exports totaled 23.7 million tons in the first eight months of this 2020/21 harvest (April to November), 79.2% more than in the same period of 2019/20. In relation to the entire past cycle, the volume has already been 25% higher. According to the state-owned company, the expectation is that the 2016/17 record will be broken when Brazilian shipments reach 28.3 million tons. External ethanol sales increased by 49.2% from April to November, to 2.2 billion liters. Imports, in turn, decreased by 65.1%, to 306 million liters. According to CONAB, this drop is justified by the devaluation of the real against the dollar, despite a 14.3% reduction in biofuel production and domestic consumption due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Source: Datamar News