Export of sugar grows 53% and breaks record
O Estado de S. Paulo
Whereas most of the commodities exported by Brazil lost value in the first half of 2009, the exports of sugar broke the record and were responsible for 22% of the surplus of the trade balance in the period, amounting to US$ 13.9 billion. The strong international demand and the favorable exchange rate caused the exports to leap from US$ 2.07 billion, in the first six months of 2008, to US$ 3.18 billion, from January to June this year, a growth of 53% in value, the greatest growth among the main raw materials in the Country's agenda of exportation.
Together, sugar and ethanol were responsible for 27% of the surplus of the Brazilian trade balance. However, in volume, the sales of ethanol abroad retracted 25% in relation to the first half of 2008. Until June this year, the Country exported 1.45 billion liters of ethanol, compared to the 1.97 billion liters in the same period of last year. "The moment is excellent for the sugar and it makes up for the fall in the exports of ethanol", affirms Antonio de Pádua Rodrigues, technical director of the Union of the Sugar-Cane Industry (Unica).
As the Brazilian industry produces sugar and ethanol from the same raw material - sugar-cane - the plants are able to adapt the production to the market's demand, changing the priority from one to another product. In this harvest they should direct, on the average, 42% of the production to sugar. Among the main groups of the sugar and alcohol sector, this decision was taken right at the beginning of the current 2009/2010 harvest. That is the case of Cosan that decided to direct 55% of the production to sugar. Another large sugar and alcohol group, Usina São Martinho, with two productive units in São Paulo and one in Goiás, also gave priority to sugar in this harvest: sugar will grow 20% and should represent nearly 40% of the production. "The situation for next the three years is that the price of the sugar should be maintained at fairly attractive levels", says Narciso Bertholdi, commercial manager of the Group Usina São João, from Araras (SP), which also owns two units in Goiás. In the current harvest, the group will direct 60% of its production to sugar.