SAO PAULO: Sugar stocks in Brazil’s center-south region were about 70% lower in the first quarter compared with the historical average for the period, driving a shift in cane allocation by mills towards producing more sugar early in the season.
Stocks fell after record exports in 2024 and a lower crop in 2024/25 (April/March) in the center-south, said on Tuesday Mauricio Muruci, a sugar analyst at consultancy Safras & Mercado.
He was commenting on data from industry group Unica, which reported the day before that 43% of cane was used for sugar production in the second half of March - the period that precedes the official start of the 2025/26 harvest, on April 1, compared to 33.5% a year ago. Muruci said that, given the low stocks, many mills atypically decided to produce more sugar at the beginning of the harvest, aiming to meet previously signed export contracts.
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