Brazil's center-south produced 2.61 million tonnes of sugar in the second half of July, more than the 2.39 million tonnes produced in the previous two-week period, as the region on Thursday posted another strong fortnight.
According to cane industry group Unica, center-south mills crushed 47.34 million tonnes of cane late in July versus 44.87 million tonnes in the first half of the month. Ethanol output rose to 2.6 billion liters from 2.39 billion liters in the first half of July.
The numbers were largely in line with market expectations. Despite the higher volumes in the period, sugar output continue to lag by far the performance seen in the same period last year as mills keep the focus on ethanol since the biofuel has better returns at the moment.
Sugar output for the fortnight was 23 percent lower than seen last year, while ethanol output was 24 percent higher. Unica said mills sold 1.5 billion liters of ethanol in the second part of July, 35 percent more than in the same period the year before. The group said ethanol's price advantage over gasoline at pumps was the highest in a decade, leading owners of flex fuel cars to favor the biofuel.
Brazil's 2018/19 cane crop seen a quick harvest pace helped by dryer-than-normal weather. Center-south mills crushed 314 million tonnes of cane so far in the season, 5.5 percent more than last season. But activity is expected to have slowed down in August due to widespread rains in most producing regions.
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