Sugar Semi-Annual Report, Brazil – 1st October 2020

Brazil’s MY 2020/21 sugarcane crush has been revised upward to 655 million metric tons (mmt), due to overall favorable weather conditions in the north-northeastern growing region. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic and social distance measures have negatively impacted people and goods’ transportation, reducing fuel consumption. Therefore, sugar-ethanol plants have diverted more sugarcane towards sugar production (47.5 percent of the total cane crushing). Total sugar exports for MY 2020/21 are estimated at 32.02 mmt, raw value, the highest export volume ever for Brazil. Brazilian sugar exports to China during the May-August 2020 period reached 1.99 mmt, almost reaching pre-safeguard levels of over 2.5 mmt. On September 11, Brazil decided to maintain a pro-rata tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for ethanol of 187.5 million liters for 90 days. On September 21, the United States granted an additional 80,000 metric tons TRQ for exporting sugar to the U.S. market without paying taxes.