BRAZIL SUGAR CANE BREAKDOWN: WHAT'S REALLY IN ONE TON?

This chart was produced by BNDES and is avaliable on the organization's web site (.pdf format - see page 6).

BNDES, the Brazilian Development Bank, is a federal public organization associated with the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Its objective is to finance endeavors that contribute to the development of Brazil.

The data in the chart above were presented by Mr. Luiz Carvalho, President of the Sugar and Ethanol Production Chain Chamber (Câmara Setorial da Cadeia Produtiva do Açúcar e do Álcool). His source was the CTC/Copersucar report of May 2002.

The three columns in the chart compare Sugar Cane Production, Equivalent Energy (in MCAL), and Equivalent Ton of Oil.

The second line in the chart compares 75 liters of ethanol with the other variables, while the third line compares 280 kg of bagasse (with 50% humidity), and the fourth line, 280 kg of straw, also at 50% humidity.

Note (1) says that best results yielded up to 90 liters per ton of sugar cane, while note (2) states that sugar cane has superior caloric power.

The yellow box at the bottom of the chart is an interesting summary of results:

(1) One ton of sugar cane equals approximately one barrel of oil;
(2) One hectare of sugar cane yields approximately 85 tons/year;
(3) 5 million hectares of planted sugar cane represent 300 million barrels of oil/year, or 820,000 barrels/day. Brazilian oil consumption is at 1.7 million barrels/day.

Follow what's happening in the Brazilian ethanol market on Ethablog, the only blog in English dedicated to Brazilian ethanol.