Brazil mills to extend sugarcane crushing, adding sugar production capacity
SAO PAULO, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Brazilian mills in the Centre-South region will extend sugarcane crushing operations beyond the traditional period to cope with a record crop this year and take advantage of high sugar prices, according to mill owners and directors.
Brazil’s sugar season usually ends in November as rains become more frequent – making it more difficult for machines to operate in the fields – and when there is not much more cane left to be harvested.
This year, however, a crop seen at around 630 million metric tons and the highest prices for sugar in 12 years will make mills try to operate for as long as possible.
“We usually stop everything by November 20, but this year we are planning to keep crushing until December 10 or 15,” said Jose Sergio Ferrari Junior, a director at Usina Ferrari, in Pirassununga, Sao Paulo state.
The millers talked during Sao Paulo’s Sugar Dinner on Thursday evening.
“The (crushing) season will be extended the most possible,” said Luis Antonio Arakaki, Chief Executive of Alcoeste Bioenergia mill.
“All the mills, all the equipment is being used to the limit, but there will still be cane left in the fields, so next year’s harvest will start earlier,” he said.
Antonio Cesar Salibe, executive president of millers association UDOP, estimates that around 30 million tons of sugarcane will be left in the fields to be harvested in March.
He said that some mills are planning to enter January still crushing, but he added that it might not be efficient to do so considering industrial yields since rains cut cane’s sugar content.
Arakaki said several mills are making adjustments to the plants to expand sugar production capacity in 2024 and in 2025. He believes that Centre-South mills could add as much as 4 million tons of sugar production capacity next season.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora, additional reporting and writing by Marcelo Teixeira in New York; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net – https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))
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