Brazilian sugar exports up in March

Brazil's total sugar exports rose 4.6 percent to 1.34 million tonnes in March from 1.28 million tonnes in the same month in 2004, the Trade Ministry's foreign trade secretariat said Friday. March shipments were down, however, from the nearly 1.48 million tonnes of sugar exported in February. Sugar cane harvesting is about to get started in the coming weeks, if not days, in Brazil's key centre-south region that grows 85 percent of the national crop.
The north-east region essentially finished harvest in the past weeks.
Brazil is the world's biggest sugar producer and exporter.