Brazil is expected to produce a smaller cane crop in 2019/20 than in the previous season, but sugar output is set to rise, government agency Conab said on Tuesday in its first report for the new crop that started in April.
Conab projected the main center-south cane crop at 566 million tonnes, versus 572 million tonnes in 2018/19, saying planted area had fallen in the region and country in general, with many farmers switching to other crops such as soybeans.
It projected total cane area to drop by 2.4 percent in 2019/20 to 8.38 million hectares. Conab sees a reduction of 181,500 hectares of cane fields in the main sugar state of Sao Paulo.
The agency expects sugar production to reach 31.43 million tonnes in center-south versus 26.5 million tonnes in the previous crop. Though it stressed it was early in the season for an accurate estimate of the production mix, Conab said it expected higher cane allocation to sugar production, from 35 percent last season to 39 percent in the new crop.
Center-south ethanol production was projected at 29.6 billion liters, versus 30.99 billion liters in 2018/19. Corn-based ethanol output was expected to surge to 1.4 billion liters in 2019/20, from 791 million liters in the previous season.
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