Sao Paulo: Sugarcane crushing and sugar production surged in the latter part of July in Brazil’s central-south region, surpassing the already optimistic predictions of market analysts due to dry weather facilitating field work in the country’s primary sugar belt, reports Reuters.
According to data released by the industry association UNICA on Thursday, the period saw the crushing of 52.96 million metric tons of sugar cane, marking a 7.8% increase compared to the previous year and establishing a record in its fortnightly data series tracking sector figures.
This figure exceeded the 51.47 million tons forecasted in a survey conducted by financial data provider S&P Global Commodity Insights. Analysts have observed that only minor areas of sugar cane cultivation in Brazil’s central south encountered rainfall issues towards the end of July, and the outlook remains highly positive for the first half of August.
The abundant crushing activity resulted in an 11.3% upswing in sugar production, reaching 3.68 million tons by late July, as reported by UNICA. During the same period, ethanol production also experienced a 1.4% increase, reaching 2.46 billion liters.
Both these figures surpassed the projections made in the S&P survey, which had estimated sugar production at 3.58 million tons and ethanol production at 2.42 billion liters. During this season, sugar mills have been focusing on directing more sugar cane toward production to capitalize on elevated prices.
