IN SHORT: Australia's sugar exports to rise four percent

Australia's sugar exports are expected to rise 4 percent in 2011/12 despite some crop damage in February from a cyclone, ANZ Bank forecast on Friday. Raw sugar exports from the world's no. 3 exporting nation should climb to 2.6 million tonnes in the June-to-May 2011/12 marketing year from 2.5 million tonnes the previous year, ANZ said in a research note.
Above-average rainfall hampered harvesting last season in the tropical eastern state of Queensland, home to most of Australia's cane fields, while a cyclone damaged crops in the state's north in February, curbing output this year.