UNICA further axes Brazil Centre-South ethanol output estimate

Nov 2, 2011 - The Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) said yesterday it revised downwards by 2.93% its latest estimate for the 2011/2012 ethanol production of Brazil's largest sugar cane producing region Centre-South.
The output is now projected to total 20.39 billion litres (5.386 billion gallons) in crop year 2011/2012, down 19.68% year-on year.
Of this volume, 12.56 billion litres are seen to be hydrous ethanol and 7.83 billion litres -- anhydrous ethanol.
The new projections of UNICA also point that 488.5 million tonnes of sugar cane will be crushed during the current crop year, a cut of 4.26% compared to the last estimate released in August and 12.29% less than the volume processed in 2010/2011.
According to UNICA, the drop in the ethanol production will be offset by the imports. From April to September, Brazil imported 567.8 million litres of ethanol and by the end of the current crop season this volume is seen to reach some 1.2 billion litres.
Ethanol exports, in turn, are expected to decrease by 6.62% compared to 2010/2011, summing up 1.65 billion litres in the current harvest.
The sugar cane crop year in Brazil starts on April 1 and ends on March 31 the next year.

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