From the beginning of the current harvest until December 15, the volume of processed sugarcane in South-Central Brazil reached 512.94 million tons, 4.57% above the crushed volume in the same period of the previous harvest. However, this 22.42 million ton increase compared to the same period a year ago did not reflect an increase in the quantity of products obtained (sugar and ethanol) from the processed cane.

Total Recoverable Sugars (ATR in Portuguese) reached an average of 131.25 Kg per ton of processed cane so far in the harvest, a drop of 9.83 Kg compared to last year. In the first half of December, the ATR reached only 108.61 Kg, a 21.18% decrease compared to the same two-week period in 2008, which clearly illustrates the low quality of the crop in the current sugarcane harvest. Persistent rainfall has been causing lower concentrations of sucrose since July.

In the first half of December, cane crushing in the South-Central region totaled 15.92 million tons, down 25.73% compared to the same two-week period a year ago. In all, 515 thousand tons of sugar and 694 million liters of ethanol were produced during that period. Drier weather during the first few days of the second half of December could lead to better results for companies that chose to continue crushing during what is usually the inter-harvest period, or down time in South-Central Brazil.

The first two weeks of December also recorded a significant change in the production pattern, with only 31.26% of all processed cane used to produce sugar while 68.74% went to ethanol production. Overall numbers since the start of the 2009-10 harvest show that 43.57% of all processed cane in the South-Central region went to sugar production, and 56.43% to ethanol.

The accumulated sugar production since the beginning of the harvest reached 27.95 million tons in mid-December, 6.16% higher than in the previous harvest. Ethanol production totaled 22.20 billion liters, 27% of it anhydrous (5.99 billion liters) and 73% hydrated ethanol, which is predominantly used in flex-fuel vehicles (16.21 billion liters).

Since October, producers in South-Central Brazil have made anhydrous ethanol a priority, in order to ensure the supply needed to maintain the 25% blend in all gasoline sold in the country.  Organizations representing South-Central producing states indicate that the production of anhydrous ethanol at the current levels should be maintained until April 2010, when the 2010/11 harvest begins.

Ethanol sales totaled 1.07 billion liters in the first half of December, of which 48.59 million liters were exported and 1.02 billion went to the domestic market. Specifically, the volume of hydrous ethanol sold internally reached 768.7 million liters in the first half of December, a somewhat higher but expected total given extra purchases always made at this time in anticipation of the increased number of cars on the road because of the yearend holidays.

Moreover, the growth in domestic hydrated ethanol sales was again slower in the first half of December. The downward trend began in June, when sales increased by 27.78% compared to sales in the same month a year ago. In October the figure dropped to 18.36% compared to October of 2008, with a further drop in November, to 14.80%. In the first two weeks of December, the increase in ethanol sales had slowed to only 9.04% compared to the first half of December of 2008. This gradual reduction is a consequence of higher hydrous ethanol prices at the pump, resulting from a combination of weather-related difficulties during the harvest and the approaching inter-harvest period, which normally lasts from December to April of the following year.