Ceres Reports Favorable Sorghum Trials in Brazil in Q2 Results

In its second quarter report, Ceres Inc. states that the growing conditions at a variety of field testing sites across Brazil have been positive for its sweet sorghum collaboration with the energy company, Raizen. The two companies signed a collaboration agreement in March to work on the large-scale adoption of high-biomass sorghum for power generation and sweet sorghum for ethanol production. Both are especially important now as multi-year drought is causing macro-economic conditions in the country to shift and electricity prices to climb to historic highs relative to ethanol prices. Through its various collaborations, Ceres has a total of 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) of sorghum planted across Brazil this season, compared to 1,000 hectares last season, reflecting the increased demand from the energy sector for high-biomass sorghum.

In addition, after promising field results in Latin America, Ceres is accelerating the development of its sugarcane traits. A new round of field trials is expected to be completed in June 2016 and if successful, commercial sugarcane cultivars with Ceres’ traits could be available as early as 2018.

Ceres closes the second quarter posting a net loss of $8.1 million compared to a net loss of $7.2 million for the same quarter in 2014, with revenues down by $200,000 year on year. This decline is being attributed to the completion of various projects being conducted under grant programs, and increases in costs and operational expenses as the company accelerates promotional programs in Brazil.

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