SAO PAULO: The start of the new Brazilian sugar season is likely to be delayed this year due to slower development of sugar cane fields in the country’s main center-south region after dryer-than-normal weather, industry group Unica said on Wednesday.
“We are evaluating mills’ crushing plans for the new season. Our perception is that we are going to have a smaller number of plants operating in March (this year), with most mills starting only in April,” said Unica’s technical director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues in a note.
The world’s largest sugar producer is currently in the between-harvests period, with only a handful of mills still operating, mostly the ones that can also process corn beside cane to produce ethanol, so-called flex plants.
Crushing normaly starts in March for most mills, but Rodrigues said that the long dry spell last year caused plants to grow slowly, so most fields would only be ready later in 2021.
The potential delay for new-crop Brazilian sugar to arrive in the market could extend the export window for India, which has taken advantage of reduced production in Thailand and production problems in Europe and Russia to boost export deals.
Brazil produced a record amount of sugar in 2020. Analysts see the country producing slightly less in the new season, expecting a decrease in sugar content in the cane.
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