SAO PAULO/NEW YORK: Brazil's center-south sugar and ethanol production in the first half of May progressed above expectations, catching up with previous delays in the season and nearing levels seen at this time last season, when the country had a record sugar crop.

According to a bi-weekly report from industry group Unica released on Wednesday, center-south mills produced 2.37 million tonnes of sugar in the first half of May, only 4.4% less than in the same period a year earlier.

Cane crush was at 41 million tonnes, 3% below 2020, while ethanol production was 0.6% below last year's levels at 1.81 billion liters.

Market expectations, possibly influenced by the poor results seen in previous reports, were for sugar production at 2.18 million tonnes, cane crush at 38.8 million tonnes and ethanol production of 1.6 billion liters, according to S&P Global Platts.

Until the previous report, cane processing and sugar production were way below the previous season, as mills delayed the start to the harvest due to poor cane development.

There was also improvement on yields as the amount of sugar per tonne of cane that is processed jumped to 131 kg/tonne, 0.39% higher than at this time in 2020.