Tereos to post stable 2024/25 sugar crushing in Brazil despite drought – executive
São Paulo, June 24 (Reuters) – Tereos, a major sugar producer, plans to crush 21 million metric tons of sugarcane in Brazil for the 2024/25 harvest, matching last year’s record despite drought conditions. Country manager Pierre Santoul indicated that production will be retained rather than sold. The center-south region’s sugarcane crushing is expected to fall below 590 million tons, a 10% decrease, due to El Niño’s impact. Tereos projects producing 2 million metric tons of sugar, up from 1.9 million.
SAO PAULO, June 24 (Reuters) -Sugar producer Tereos expects to crush about the same amount of sugarcane in Brazil during the 2024/25 harvest as in the previous cycle, despite a drought in the country’s key production area, an executive said on Monday.
The French cooperative, which also produces ethanol, alcohol and starches, is one of the world’s largest sugar makers thanks to its large sugar cane-based production in Brazil, where it operates seven plants.
Tereos’ country manager for Brazil, Pierre Santoul, told journalists the cooperative will still be able to crush approximately 21 million metric tons of sugarcane in Brazil in 2024/25, maintaining a record level from 2023/24 and in line with its previous projections.
Tereos will do this by retaining all its production rather than selling part of it as it did in the previous cycle, according to Santoul. It will also not leave raw material in fields for the next season, as happened in 2023/24, he said.
In February, the executive had seen industrywide sugarcane crushing in Brazil’s center-south below 600 million tons for the 2024/25 cycle, but now Santoul said he expects under 590 million tons. It would mean a 10% decrease from last year.
Center-south is the main sugarcane region in Brazil, which is the largest producer and exporter of the sweetener in the world.
“The crushing (in center-south region) will certainly be below 590 million tons,” he said. “The new harvest that has already started is super challenging. We had a dry summer due to El Niño, despite heavy rains in the south of the country, and the center-south was left with a significant deficit”.
Santoul said Tereos is also keeping its estimate of producing 2 million metric tons of sugar in 2024/25 in Brazil, compared to 1.9 million tons in the previous season.
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