Message from the Board of Directors

Copersucar proudly presents its Sustainability Report for the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 crop years to its stakeholders. As well as being a register of the progress in management and introducing the achievements of the last biennium, this report highlights the company’s performance as a protagonist in sustainability, which is a prerequisite for the continuity of the business and a value generating factor for society as a whole today and in the future.

Message from the CEO

The two crop years between 2016 and 2018 were marked by high volatility in the sugar and ethanol markets. In the last cycle, sugar prices experienced a prolonged downturn, a drop of more than 30%, while ethanol recovered its competitiveness in relation to gasoline due to the new price policy in force in Brazil since July 2017. In such distinct scenarios, Copersucar was able to prove the efficacy of its management with the necessary readiness to meet market demands and ensure that positive results were obtained.

Our purpose

Copersucar S.A. is a global leader in trading sugar and ethanol. It has a unique business model that connects the field and the sugar-energy industry to the rest of the world.

Business model

Copersucar’s responsibility is to connect the field to the rest of the world by promoting the generation of sustainable value across all the links of the sugarcane value chain

Our governance

Copersucar is comprised of 20 business groups, which own 35 partner mills and form its body of shareholders. Since it was founded in 2008, the company has adopted best corporate governance practices and a high level of professional executive management. The company’s management structure is in line with the guidelines of the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC).

Management progress

With the purpose of enhancing its internal controls and processes, Copersucar continuously improves on the tools available for the management and administration of its business. With greater efficiency in its administrative areas, the company has ensured agility in strategic decision-making and in conducting its sugar and ethanol business and logistics business.

Our business

Copersucar and its partner mills providing the sugar and ethanol traded by the company adopt best practices to assure the traceability and sustainability of the products sold to clients in Brazil and abroad.

Sugar

Copersucar’s sugar reaches clients in both the Brazilian and foreign markets. In Brazil, the main food and beverage industries buy white and raw crystal sugar and sales are supported by a specific team. On the foreign market, sales are conducted via Alvean and the main clients for our sugar are refineries in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia.

Ethanol

Direct operations in Brazil combined with the operations undertaken by Eco-Energy, Copersucar’s full subsidiary in the U.S., has led to the company’s creating the largest ethanol sale and distribution platform in the world. This integration allows synergy gains, as these markets are the largest producers and consumers of ethanol in the world, with import and export opportunities in both countries. Part of the ethanol is also sold in Japan and South Korea, thus broadening the range of environmental benefits brought about by the Brazilian product.

Logistics

Copersucar has a logistics infrastructure in place in Brazil for the transport of sugar and ethanol, which includes warehousing facilities and transshipment terminals and a wide-ranging road, rail and maritime contract transport network. Along with its partner mills, the company boasts the largest sugar (2.5 million tons) and ethanol (3 billion liters) storage capacity in Brazil.

Financial performance

With significant gains from direct operations, notably logistics services, and from domestic ethanol and sugar sales, Copersucar maintained profitability in the 2017-2018 crop year, obtaining consolidated net profit of BRL 147.2 million.

Our commitment

At Copersucar, sustainability management is supported by three pillars – Energy for Life, Energy for Growth and Energy for Movement – and it is fundamental for the company to ensure generation of value in a sustainable manner. Copersucar’s Sustainability Policy establishes guidelines that steer employees and investee companies’ activities towards sustaining a long-term business model, alongside the development of communities surrounding the company’s operations.

Socio-environmental management

Boasting a unique business model that integrates different links of the sector’s production chain, Copersucar manages social and environmental impacts within a broad context. This encompasses both logistics operations that are executed by contract suppliers and the areas in which partner mills operate. The environmental and social aspects of sugarcane production and processing are monitored continuously through a system that gathers information and enables the development of action plans aimed at disseminating best practices.

People management

Copersucar’s employees are trained and permanently prepared to apply their knowledge of the business model and market, in search of a better performance in the company’s operations and to underpin the its strategic growth pillars. Human capital management seeks to uphold the teams’ skills and alignment to the company’s mission and to the explicit cultural values of Our Way of Being and Doing.

Workplace safety

The safety of employees in conducting logistics operations for handling sugar and ethanol is a priority for Copersucar’s management. The company continually invests in mechanisms to raise employee awareness and improve the terminals’ facilities in an effort to reduce risks and accidents.

About the Report

Copersucar publishes its Sustainability Report as a way to show to all its stakeholders how it generates sustainable value across the sugar and ethanol chain. This is in line with the company’s mission of connecting the field to the rest of the world and of providing renewable energy and natural food for the well-being of society. The company also seeks to demonstrate how its management balances out the economic, environmental and social aspects that have an impact on its business model, taking into account the most relevant aspects for decision-making by stakeholders and the actors within its value chain.

Material topics

For its Sustainability Report to be drawn up in line with GRI Standards guidelines and best market practices, Copersucar has identified the most relevant issues to be covered when defining content, as well as the limits and scope of the document. To this end the company has a Materiality Matrix composed of nine topics that cover the main economic, environmental and social impacts of its business model within and outside the boundaries of its activity.

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