Brazil to harvest its smallest sugarcane crop in ten years due to bad weather

Brazil, the world’s largest producer and exporter of sugar and ethanol, will collect 568.4 million tons of sugarcane in the 2021-2022 harvest, a volume 13.2% lower than that of the 2020-2021 season and the lowest in the last ten years. official sources reported this Tuesday.

According to the projection released today by the National Supply Company (Conab), the sugarcane production that began to be harvested in April of this year will be the lowest since that harvested in the 2011-2012 season (560.9 million tons).

Conab, a body linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, attributed the sharp drop in production “to adverse climatic effects during the production cycle and to the low temperatures registered in June and July of this year, with episodes of frost in some production areas, especially the states of Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná ”.

The agency added that the reduction in the sugarcane harvest will be reflected in the production of its derivatives, mainly refined sugar and fuel ethanol.

Conab estimates that the production of ethanol with sugarcane for the current harvest will be located at 24,800 million liters of fuel, with a reduction of 16.6% compared to the immediately previous season.

The production of refined sugar, meanwhile, will be 33.9 million tons, which is equivalent to a reduction of 17.8% compared to last year.

The reduction in the harvest has already begun to be reflected in the sector’s Brazilian exports, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

According to official figures, in the first seven months of the current season, between April and October, Brazil exported 16.9 million tons of refined sugar, a volume 17.9 less than in the same period last year.

“The restriction of the internal supply and the anticipation of the harvest in some sugar mills in the south-central region of the country contributed to the increase in the price of sugar in the domestic market and the reduction in exports.”, According to Conab.

In the same way, ethanol exports between April and October of this year totaled 1,130 million liters, with a reduction of 38.6% compared to the same period last year.