Sugar Output in Brazil Center South Rises 2% July 1-15

(Bloomberg) – Sugar output in Brazil’s Center South, the world’s biggest producing region, rose 2 percent in the first half of this month, industry group Unica said.

Output between July 1 and July 15 rose to 2.64 million metric tons from 2.59 million tons a year earlier, Sao Paulo- based Unica said in an e-mailed statement today. The current crop year started April 1.

Cane growers in the region, which produces about 90 percent of Brazil’s sugar and ethanol, harvested 42.2 million tons of cane in the period, up from 40.6 million tons a year earlier.

Mills turned about 50.2 percent of the cane into sugar in the first half of this month, up from 49.2 percent a year earlier. The rest was processed into fuel. Ethanol output fell 2.5 percent to 1.61 billion liters (425 million gallons).

Cane output in the region is expected to rise to between 500 million and 505 million tons in the current crop, from 490 million in the past season, Unica Chairman Pedro Parente said June 14.

Sugar production will increase 5.8 percent to 33.1 million tons, Unica said in an April 12 report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Carlos Caminada in Sao Paulo at ccaminada1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net