During the celebration of the centennial of the Coruripe Mill, one of the largest bioenergy companies in Brazil, which concluded on February 12, the company received a congratulations vote from the Agriculture and Agroindustry Committee of the Minas Gerais Assembly. The congratulations letter, addressed to the president of Coruripe, Mario Lorencatto, highlights the importance of the company for the state and for the country. 6o69u
The tribute highlights the great production capacity of the Coruripe Mill, which employs more than 8 thousand people in four units in Minas Gerais and one in Alagoas. The positive results achieved in the 2024/2025 harvest are also highlighted, with 16.06 million tons of sugarcane crushed, production of 24,366 thousand bags of sugar, 495 million liters of ethanol and generation of 703 thousand MWh of energy. The achievements resulted in gross revenue of R$ 4.55 billion, with an adjusted EBITDA of R$ 1.75 billion and net income of R$ 315 million.
Also noteworthy are the recent investments made by Usina Coruripe to continue growing, such as the construction of a new sugar factory in Limeira do Oeste (MG), with an investment of R$450 million. In addition, the implementation of the Road and Rail Terminal, in partnership with Rumo, at the Iturama (MG) unit in 2022, enabled more efficient logistics and increased the capacity to transport sugar production. Another important milestone was obtaining the ISCC Corsia Plus international certification, which made the company one of the few able to sell ethanol for aviation.
“Coruripe is ready to seize growth opportunities, executing its strategic expansion plan to reach 25 million tons of milling in the coming years, maintaining the focus on the production of sugar, ethanol and sustainable energy, with safe operations, socio-environmental responsibility and generation of wealth for shareholders, employees and society in our concept of irable profit”, points out Mario Lorencatto.
Sustainability in focus
Over its 100 years, Usina Coruripe has stood out not only for its greatness in the sector, but also for its commitment to environmental projects and social responsibility in the communities where it operates. The company is one of the pioneers in the sector to implement ESG practices. In total, it maintains five Private Natural Heritage Reserves (RPPNs): Porto Cajueiro, in the municipality of Januária, in the North of Minas Gerais; Pereira and Lula Lobo, in Feliz Deserto, on the coast of Alagoas; and Riacho Seco and Afrânio Menezes, in Coruripe (AL).
Other notable practices include the gradual elimination of manual cutting and the end of burning in Alagoas with the transition to mechanized harvesting, as is already the case in the company's Minas Gerais branches. Furthermore, the plant's boilers already use sugarcane biomass as their main fuel, a byproduct of the sugarcane juice extraction activity, in addition to the rational reuse of this material for cogeneration of electricity. In the most recent harvests, the modernization of the boilers has improved the combustion processes, which provides greater efficiency and reduces atmospheric emissions.
In addition to sugarcane bagasse, another widely used residue from sugarcane production is vinasse or vinasse. Applied to sugarcane fields, it acts as a fertilizer and a source of potassium for the crop, a recent technique in the Brazilian agricultural scenario that aims at a more uniform distribution of the product, avoiding waste, excess and reducing agricultural activities. The practice also prevents the emergence of erosion processes, as the effluent goes directly to the planting lines, optimizing the process and bringing more sustainability, which is why the company has replaced conventional applications with this new technique.
In addition, other highlights have been the reduction of chemical fertilizers, which have been replaced by organic fertilizers, in addition to the reduction of the concentration of nitrogen in fertilizers over the next few years. With the implementation of these measures, the company projects a 39% reduction in the consumption of chemical fertilizers by 2030.