Brazil's center-south region produced 1.36 million tonnes of sugar in the first half of November, down from the 2.05 million tonnes in the second half of October, as the country's main cane belt winds down its crushing season early, the sugar and ethanol association Unica said on Tuesday. Mills in the region crushed 21.8 million tonnes of cane in the first half of this month, down from the 31.75 million tonnes crushed in the previous fortnight, Unica said.
"The reduction in cane crush was caused by weather conditions (rains) and by the fact that many mills had already finished operations," Unica said in a statement. According to Thomson Reuters Weather Dashboard, the cane-rich region of Ribeir?o Preto in Sao Paulo state received large amounts of rain during the first half of November, slowing the harvest.
Unica said 44 more mills finished operations for the season early in November, bringing to 107 the number of mills already done crushing for the year. The cane industry group expects another 58 mills to end operations in the second half of November. Considering the data collected so far, Unica said the total cane crush in the region is not likely to reach the lower end of the group's estimated range for the crop at 605 million tonnes to 630 million tonnes. Previously, Unica said the total crush would be closer to the lower rather than the top end of its projection.
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