Brazilian Sugar Exports Increase 53%

So much for that food vs. fuelproblem, Brazilian sugar exports in the first six months of this year increased 53 percent over the same period in 2008, the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association (UNICA) said Monday. UNICA reported that exports climbed from $2 billion in the first half of 2008 to $3.19 billion in the first half of this year. By volume, sugar sales abroad totaled 10.4 million tons between January and June this year against 7.6 million tons during the same period last year.

“The world sugar deficit and the lack of security with regard to the production of some countries made world prices shoot up, which allowed a substantial increase in Brazilian exports,” said Unica’s technical director, Antonio de Padua. The main markets for Brazilian sugar were Russia, accounting for 16 percent of the total, and India, with 15 percent.

In the same period, in contrast, exports of sugar-based ethanol registered a fall of 25 percent, dropping from 1.97 billion liters (520 million gallons) to 1.45 billion. One of the basic factors in the decline in ethanol sales abroad, UNICA said, was the fall in U.S. purchases, which plunged from 500 million liters last year to 72 million in the first six months of 2009.

During the 2008-2009 harvest, Brazil produced 565 million tons of sugar cane, with which it produced 31.3 million tons of sugar and 25.7 billion liters of ethanol.