Brazil’s CS Sugar Cane Crush Passes its Peak

(IEG Vu) – Sugar mills in Brazil’s Centre/South (CS) crushed 38.511 mln tonnes of cane in the first half of September, down from 43.306 million in second half of August and also down from 45.473 mln in the same period a year ago, Unica data showed.

Total Recoverable Sugars (ATR) per tonne of cane were 156.97 kg, up further from 152.66 kg in H2 August and also above 150.92 in the same period last year. The sugar allocation was down at 37.27% from 47.98% last year.

This allowed the production of 2.147 mln tonnes of sugar, tel quel, during the period under review, down from 3.137 mln a year ago. On the other hand, ethanol production surged to 2.257 bln litres from 2.112 bln last year.

Total cane milling since the start of the season has now reached 430.348 mln tonnes, still up from 428.323 mln a year ago. Sugar production is down significantly at 20.993 mln tonnes from 26.480 mln, while ethanol production is up at 22.756 bln litres from 17.463 bln.

Preliminary data from the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) based on a sample of 81 mills indicate that the cane yield reached only 70.73 tonnes per ha in the first half of September, down 9.2% from 77.87 in the same period in 2017. Unica’s technical director, Antonio de Padua Rodrigues, confirmed that this reflects the expected decrease in yield towards the end of the harvest.

A survey among 237 mills shows that only 12% of  the companies will process cane in December 2018, compared to 36% in the same month of 2017. Some 38% of the plants in the Centre/South are expected to conclude crushing operations by the end of October and 49% will finish milling during November.

Only 25% of the mills will end crushing later this season later than in 2017/18 cycle with the average “delay” estimated at just 12 days. The other 75% of mills will close earlier than last season, with the average being 27 days earlier than a year ago.