Ethanol Briefs
UNICA Sees Lower Sugarcane Output for Current Crop Year
NEW YORK (DTN) -- Brazil's Union of Sugarcane Industry Association, or UNICA, on Wednesday, April 23, released its sugarcane production estimates calling for 580 million tons for the current 2014/2015 crop year, down 2.9% year over year.
UNICA blamed sustained drought in Brazil from late last year to early this year for the lower production estimates. Yields are expected to drop 8% from the prior year despite forecast acreage would be up 5%.
The UNICA data provides the earliest indications of what to expect from Brazil's production of ethanol.
UNICA: Brazil's Ethanol Sales for 2013/2014 Rose 23.5%
NEW YORK (DTN) -- The Union of Sugarcane Industry Association or UNICA, the powerful trade group that lobbies on behalf of Brazil's sugarcane and ethanol producers, on Tuesday, April 15, released a report showing millers in the south-central region of Brazil sold 23 billion liters of ethanol during the 2013/2014 crop year, up 23.5% from the prior crop year.
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Of those total sales, 13.7 billion liters were hydrous ethanol while the rest were anhydrous ethanol. Anhydrous sales were up 35.8% year-over-year while hydrous sales were up 16.3% from year prior, the data showed.
The increase in ethanol sales was driven by rising demand after the Brazilian government increased the country's ethanol blend ratio from 23.49% to 25% in May 2013, said UNIC Technical Director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues.
He said the industry could produce more ethanol if the government raises the blend ratio again to 27.5% as UNICA has recommended. He said the industry is currently producing less ethanol than its capacity.
EIA: Ethanol Production this Year to Average 910,000 Bpd
OAKHURST, N.J. (DTN) --- The Energy Information Administration on Tuesday, March 11, in its most recent Short-Term Energy Outlook forecast ethanol production will average 910,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year, about 2,000 bpd higher than month-prior projections.
The agency said ethanol production averaged 949,000 bpd in December 2013, up from 825,000 bpd in December 2012.
Biodiesel production averaged about 87,000 bpd in 2013 and is forecast to average about 85,000 bpd in both 2014 and 2015.
Biodiesel production, which averaged 64,000 bpd or 1.0 billion gallons per year, in 2012, rose to 104,000 bpd, or 135 million gallons in December 2013, which was 7 million gallons higher than the month prior.
Meantime, EIA estimates that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels increased 2.0% in 2013 from the previous year and will rise 1.7% this year followed possibly by a small decline of 0.9% in 2015. The increase in emissions in 2013 reflects growth in consumption of liquid fuels and coal, while projected growth this year is mainly due to higher coal use in electric power generation. Coal emissions are projected to decline by 3.0% in 2015 as the power sector responds to increasing coal plant retirements.
US Ethanol Exports Surge 33% in January; Most to Brazil
NEW YORK (DTN) -- The United States exported 86.2 million gallons of ethanol in January, up 33% from the 64.8 million gallons exported in December, according to an analysis of data from various federal agencies by Geoff Cooper, the Renewable Fuels Association's vice president for research.
Cooper said the data also shows Brazil overtaking Canada as the biggest importer of U.S. ethanol. He said Brazil imported 24 million gallons of U.S. ethanol compared with 18.8 million gallons for Canada.
Other importers of U.S. ethanol were United Arab Emirates, India and the Philippines in that order.
(BM/AG)
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