RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil, the world’s largest producer of sugar cane, with 40% of the global market, will harvest 592 million tons in the 2021/2022 crop, a volume 9.5% lower than the previous one and a drop caused by climatic effects, according to government estimates released on Thursday.
In total, some 62 million tons will not be harvested due to the droughts experienced during the productive cycle of the crop, and the heavy frosts recorded between June and July.
According to the second projection of the harvest made by the National Supply Company (Conab), linked to the Ministry of Agriculture, Sao Paulo, which produces 60% of the sugarcane in Brazil, was one of the states most affected by the frosts, together with Mato Grosso do Sul.
In the Southeast region (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo), the country’s main sugarcane producing region, some 5 million hectares were lost, representing a drop of 13.3% for the area.
The losses for the South region (Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina) will be 6.7%, and for the center-west (Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Goiás and Brasilia), a decrease of 3.2% is estimated.
Brazil will produce 36.9 million tons of sugar by-products, a reduction of 10.5% compared to the previous crop.
According to Conab estimates, ethanol should show a 10.8% decrease in the same comparison and close the next harvest with 29.22 billion liters, of which 25.86 billion liters will be from sugarcane and the rest from corn-based ethanol.
Brazil is the world’s second-largest ethanol producer, behind the United States, and the first in exports. It also leads to the global production of this anhydride from sugar cane.