The current situation of the sugar industry in Brazil, the world's largest sugar producer
1. Overview
Brazil is located in the eastern part of South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Its land area is 8.547 million square kilometers, accounting for approximately 46% of the total area of ??South America. It is the fifth largest country in the world after Russia, Canada, China and the United States. Brazil's economic strength ranks first in Latin America. Since Brazil opened up to the outside world in the early 1990s, agricultural output has increased significantly due to the acquisition of foreign low-interest loans and advanced production technology. At present, Brazil is a major agricultural production and export country in the world. Except for a few crops such as wheat, Brazil can achieve self-sufficiency and export large quantities of major agricultural products. The output of sugar cane, coffee and citrus ranks first in the world.
Brazil is the world’s largest sugar producer and a net exporter of sugar. The sugar industry occupies an important position in the Brazilian national economy. Brazilian sugar production starts in May each year and ends in April of the following year. The central and southern regions of Brazil are the main sugar cane and sugar producing areas, and their output accounts for 85% and 90% of the country's total sugar cane and sugar output respectively. Sugar production mainly adopts a two-step method. The product is mainly raw sugar. The product quality is good. The production cost is relatively low among the global sugar-producing countries (about 5 cents/pound). At the same time, the Brazilian currency exchange rate is low, so Brazilian sugar is in the The competitiveness in the market is high. Brazilian sugar exports account for the largest share of the world's total sugar trade, and Brazil's current share of the international market has risen sharply from 4% in the past 15 years to 30%. The growth rate of world sugar market trade volume is almost equal to the growth rate of Brazilian sugar exports.
In recent years, due to the Brazilian government’s vigorous promotion of the sugar and alcohol joint production plan, expansion of investment in sugar industry infrastructure, increased financial support for alcohol reserves, expansion of overseas alcohol consumption markets and other sugar industry policies, Brazil’s Sugarcane planting area, sugarcane production, sugar production and export volume, alcohol production and export volume are increasing year by year. At present, the total annual output value of the Brazilian sugar industry is approximately US$20 billion, of which US$6 billion comes from exports, US$5 billion comes from domestic sales, and the other US$8.7 billion is created by the alcohol industry.
2. Sugarcane production
The area of ??sugarcane planting has increased: Due to the good selling prices of sugar and alcohol, sugarcane farmers have been greatly encouraged to expand the area of ??sugarcane planting. In addition, sugar factories and alcohol factories have carried out Asset integration and increased investment in sugarcane planting have also led to the expansion of sugarcane planting area in Brazil. Brazil's sugarcane planting area in the 03/04 crushing season increased by 530,000 hectares on the basis of the 02/03 crushing season, reaching 5.6 million hectares. Brazil's sugarcane harvest area reached 5.05 million hectares in the 03/04 crushing season, an increase of 5% compared with the 02/03 crushing season.
In the S?o Paulo region, Brazil’s largest sugar-producing province, sugarcane cultivation has replaced the cultivation of pasture and citrus. Because according to calculations by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, the investment cost of planting 1 hectare of sugarcane is 2122 reais, which is 73% less than planting citrus and 36% less than developing pasture. At the same time, the average marginal profit of planting sugarcane is 7.31%, which is higher than that of citrus. 6.01% and 3.27% of pasture. Sugarcane production continues to increase: According to statistics from the Brazilian Agricultural Trade Office, due to the expansion of sugarcane planting area, suitable weather and improvements in management. The total sugarcane output in Brazil in the 03/04 crushing season reached 350 million tons, an increase of 9% from the 321 million tons in the previous crushing season. The central and southern regions of the main producing areas produced 298 million tons of sugarcane this season, an increase of 11% from the 269 million tons produced in the 2002/03 season. Sugarcane production in the northeastern region, another production area, was 51.8 million tons.
The average yield in Brazil's 03/04 crushing season reached 68.3 tons/hectare, which was higher than the previous season