June 23, 2015
Sugaronline | http://goo.gl/7QY9co
Brazil's Sao Martinho sugar and ethanol group said on Monday that it plans to increase its sugar production by more than 5% in the current April-March cane crushing season from the previous 12 months, at the expense of ethanol output, according to Reuters.
In its initial guidance for the 2015/2016 season, the milling group said it expected to produce 1.295 million tonnes of sugar compared with 1.231 million last season, while its ethanol production is expected to fall.
In its annual income statement, Sao Martinho said that 52% of the 19.5 million tonnes of cane it plans to crush this year would be devoted to sugar production, with 48% left over for ethanol.
In the crop and financial year that ended on March 31, the group allocated only 49% of the 18.72 million tonnes of cane crushed to sugar, with the slight majority going to ethanol.
Sao Martinho's 2014/15 net income grew 112% from the previous season to BRL286 million (US$93 million), with BRL56.6 million of those annual net profits coming in the final January-to-March quarter.
In the past year, Sao Martinho's cane crush grew 20% from the previous season to 18.7 million tonnes, which boosted both output of sugar and ethanol in the 12 months ending in March.
Sugar production rose by 25% at 1.23 million tonnes, while anhydrous ethanol grew by 13% to 438 million litres and hydrous grew by 40% to 353 million litres.
The company also boosted its energy generation from cane biomass by 63% last year to 720,000 megawatt hours.