Brazilian anhydrous ethanol stocks as of August 1 were 2.433 billion liters, little changed from a year earlier's 2.430 billion liters, data from the Agriculture Ministry showed.
The total volume includes ethanol for fuel and industrial use. Nearly all Brazilian ethanol is produced from cane feedstock.
Anhydrous stocks were flat, despite higher consumption at the pump this year. Higher output rates so far this season combined with surging imports from the US have helped to offset the supply shortfall.
Hydrous stocks rose 6% on the year to nearly 2.85 billion liters as of August 1, reflecting reduced demand at the pump.
The 2017-18 sugarcane season started April 1 in the key Center-South region, the largest sugarcane- and sugar-producing region in the world.
Anhydrous production in the first four months of the season (April-July) totaled 4.995 billion liters, down nearly 3.7% on year, while hydrous output was 6.576 billion liters, down 14.5% on the year, data from industry association UNICA showed.
That includes a small amount of ethanol from corn.
The North-Northeast region also produces ethanol from sugarcane, but most of the states in that region are still in the intercrop period and little ethanol has been produced. As of August 1, a total of 144.8 million liters of anhydrous were produced in the region and 85.3 million liters of hydrous, the ministry said.
The 2017-18 season in the North-Northeast will officially start in September in the largest producing states Alagoas and Pernambuco.
Anhydrous production has been favored over hydrous due to lower demand for the latter in the domestic market. This translates into higher demand for hydrous' competitor gasoline, into which anhydrous is blended at a 27% ratio by government mandate.
Hydrous is used in flex-fuel vehicles, and is competitive when its price is at most 70% of the price of gasoline, due to hydrous' lower energy content.
On the demand side, anhydrous sales to the domestic market in the first half of the year were up 7% on the year at 6.05 billion liters, the most recent data from the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) showed.
Hydrous demand, by contrast, was down 19% year on year at 5.83 billion liters.
