Sugar cane milling for the 2025/26 season drops by 1.26%, Unica reports

The accumulated sugarcane milling in the 2025/26 season reached 576.253 million tons in the Center-South as of November 16, according to a new report from the Sugarcane Industry Union (Unica). The volume represents a 1.26% decrease compared to the same period of the previous season, when 583.594 million tons had been processed. Even with the reduction in milling, sugar production advanced by 2.09%, totaling 39.179 million tons, above the 38.379 million recorded in 2024/25. Ethanol, however, had a lower performance. Total production fell by 5.60%, to 28.348 billion liters. By type, anhydrous ethanol decreased by 1.59% (10.746 million liters), while hydrated ethanol had a more pronounced drop of 7.89%, totaling 17.602 billion liters. The change is explained by the greater allocation of raw material to sugar: 51.54% of the harvested cane was directed to the sweetener in this season, compared to 48.45% in the previous cycle. With this, the ethanol mix fell from 51.55% to 48.46%. The ...