Brazil Sugar Output Will Rise 19 Percent to Record

Sugar output in Brazil’s Center South, the world’s largest producing region, will rise 19 percent to a record in the coming season as drier weather boosts yields and new mills come online.

Mills in the region, which makes 90 percent of Brazil’s sugar, will produce 34.1 million metric tons of the sweetener in the crop year starting tomorrow, up from 28.6 million a year earlier, Unica said in a report distributed today in Sao Paulo. Sugar-cane output will increase 10 percent to 595.9 million tons, Unica said.

Drier weather after two years of excess rain will help boost sugar yields because humidity reduces the concentration of sucrose, the substance extracted from cane to produce sweetener and ethanol, and 10 mills will come online, Unica said. Sugar more than doubled last year after El Nino caused excess showers in Brazil and triggered a drought that harmed crops in India, the second-largest producer.

Average yields will increase to 138.6 kilograms (306 pounds) of sugar equivalent per ton of cane, from 130.4 kilograms in the past season, Unica said.

Ethanol output in the Center South will climb 16 percent to 27.4 billion liters (7.2 billion gallons), Unica said.

The proportion of the crop that will be processed into sugar will rise to 43.3 percent from 42.6 percent in the previous season. The remainder is processed into ethanol.

source: businessweek