Brazil's center-south region produced only 127,000 tonnes of sugar in the second half of December, compared to 379,000 in the previous two-week period, as mills operations are basically over for the 2016/17 crop. Mills in the main cane belt in Brazil crushed 3 million tonnes of cane late in December, compared to 7.22 million tonnes in the first half of the month, cane industry group Unica said in a report on Friday.
Only 15 mills were operating in early January out of about 300 in the region, Unica said. That is because good weather during most of 2016 allowed for a solid cane processing rhythm, in a contrast with the 2015 crop when excessive rain hampered mills' work.
The report said agricultural yields in December were 19 percent below the same month a year earlier as frosts and a strong dry spell in the first half of 2016 impacted the fields negatively.
Unica expects some mills to resume operations for the 2017/18 crop a bit earlier than normal in March, since the industries will have a long intercrop period and enough time to adjust installations for the new season.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.