SAO PAULO: Brazil's 2014-15 centre-south cane crop will likely be 546 million tonnes, industry association Unica said on Tuesday, down nearly 6 percent from its initial forecast of 580 million tonnes in April due to an irregular climate.
"The situation in the center-south is quite heterogeneous," said Unica's technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues. He said some states had had excessive rain that delayed harvesting, while other regions had been more affected by drought this year than initially thought.
Unica also reduced its forecasts for sugar and ethanol for the region, to 31.36 million tonnes of sweetener from 32.50 million tonnes previously and 24.01 billion liters of biofuel from 25.86 billion liters in April.
Cane yields are already about 10 percent lower than they were a year ago and Rodrigues said they will likely drop further as the harvest progresses and younger cane is collected.
Unica also said in its bi-weekly report that sugar output from the center-south quickened in early August to 2.8 million tonnes, up from 2.24 million tonnes in the prior two weeks.
Cumulative sugar output is up 6.42 percent from last year to 17.9 million tonnes so far in this crop year. Benchmark ICE October raw sugar futures edged up 1.2 percent to 15.54 cents, above Monday's 7-month low of 15.30 cents, on news of the speedier crushing.
Rain had held up crushing in late July but in early August mills crushed 44.90 million tonnes of cane, still 3.4 percent less than a year earlier but up from 35.98 million tonnes processed in the second half of July.
Rodrigues expects harvesting to end 30 days earlier this season than a year ago. He said two mills should finish by late August. Crushing usually continues until December in Brazil, the world's largest sugar producer and exporter.
"Some mills will leave mature cane to harvest next year, mostly in Mato Grosso do Sul, Goias and Parana," he said at an event in Sertaozinho.
Comments
Comments are closed.