Brazil sugar production meets market expectations in early June
Adds details, context
SAO PAULO, June 27 (Reuters) – Brazil’s center-south sugar production came in roughly in line with market estimates in the first half of June, data from industry group Unica showed on Tuesday, decelerating from the previous fortnight as rains thatdrove a jump in yields now hamper crush operations.
Sugar production in the period totaled 2.55 million metric tons, Unica said in a report, up 18.7% from a year earlier and meeting analyst consensus in a survey by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
That output came from the crushing of a total 40.3 million metric tons of sugarcane in the period, a 4.2% rise on a yearly basis but slowing down from the staggering 46.2 million metric tons processed in the second half of May.
That move had been largely anticipated by market players, who found that Brazilian mills had lost some three days of operations in the period because of rains – which, on the other hand, had contributed earlier in the season to a yield-boost.
Agricultural yields had “an extraordinary leap … reflecting a favorable rainfall regime in summer months,” Unica said in a statement, as it reported a jump of 26.2% in yields to 95.3 metric tons per hectare in May.
“But such a leap is expected to be softened when older sugarcane fields enter the harvest scheduled” later in the cycle, it added.
Total ethanol production in early June, Unica said, was 1.85 billion liters, up 1.75% from the previous season even as mills look to allocate more cane to sugar production to take advantage of higher prices. The data also includes fuel made from corn.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Steven Grattan)
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