Ethanol sales by plants in the center-south fall 32.3% in January, says association

Ethanol producing units in the center-south sold a total of 1.76 billion liters in January, down 32.39% from the same period in the previous year, reported on Monday (14) the association Unica, with the sector citing a drop in consumption, while only a small part of the lower prices of fuel in the plants reached the stations.

In the domestic market, sales of hydrous ethanol (gasoline’s competitor) accentuated the retraction observed in recent months and reached 918.85 million liters last month, a drop of 44.45% over the same period of the last harvest.

The amount of anhydrous ethanol sold (mixed with gasoline) reversed the upward trend and registered a reduction of 2.02%, with 794.82 million liters sold by producers in January, according to figures from the association.

For the technical director of the Sugarcane Industry Union (Unica), Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, “what has been observed in biofuel sales by producers is in line with the drop in consumption of Otto cycle fuels. ”.

He said that, as a result of the current balance of supply and demand for hydrous ethanol, prices received by producers have already fallen by close to 1.05 reais per liter since November, but this drop has not yet reached the consumer, which limits demand. .

Last week, Cepea recorded an average at the plant in São Paulo of 2.8383 reais per liter of hydrated ethanol, the lowest value since July last year.

According to Padua, “the expectation is that this setback (in the plant) will be fully passed on to final consumers by the other links in the commercialization chain”.

On average in Brazil, the price of hydrous ethanol at the pump varied little between December and January, from 5,141 reais per liter to 5,038 reais, or a drop of about 2%, according to a survey by the ANP regulator. In February, the fall was accentuated to 4,850 reais per liter (-3.7% compared to January).

Of the total sold in January, 52.26 million liters were destined for the foreign market and 1.71 billion liters were sold domestically.

Unica also informed that there was no sugarcane crushing in the center-south of Brazil in the second half of January, which had recently happened in other fortnights in this off-season, after a sharp drop in the crop due to drought and frost problems. Meanwhile, the sector has mainly traded its inventories.

With the drop in the commercialization of ethanol, market questions increase as to whether the industry could eventually increase the destination of the raw material for the production of sugar, instead of ethanol, as the new harvest begins in the center-south, officially From April.

More cane for sugar production in the biggest global producer of the sweetener tends to put pressure on global prices for the commodity.