Brazil’s centre-south (CS) sugar production reached 2.89 million tonnes in the second half of June, recovering from the poor performance seen in the first half of the month when mills had produced only 2.19 million tonnes, a report showed on Monday.
Brazil’s CS sugar output late in June was also 5.6% better than in the same period last year, industry group Unica said. Mills in the region crushed 45 million tonnes of cane, 4.4% more than last year and 10 million tonnes more than in the previous fortnight.
“The numbers were higher than expected,” said a European sugar broker.
Most analysts saw the possibility of Brazilian production deteriorating further after the previous report, as agricultural yields were also falling.
But the report on Monday brought better numbers.
Raw sugar futures in New York SBc1 fell to near the session’s low after the report.
Ethanol production in the second half of June was 2.08 billion liters (549.5 million gallons (for US measures)), 5.7% more than last year.
Unica said agricultural yields in June were still 11% lower year-on-year, but added that higher sugar content in the cane due to dry weather was offsetting some of those productivity losses.
SOURCE: Reuters
