Mexico could lose between 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes of sugar after a severe drought affected the cane crop across the country, the national sugar cane union said on Wednesday. Those losses would drop the 2011/12 harvest estimate down to as low as 5.1 million tonnes from 5.3 million tonnes forecast earlier in the cycle, which began in November, said Carlos Blackaller, head of the union that groups cane growers.
Blackaller said favourable prices in the United States and lower sugar consumption in Mexico, which is buying more high-fructose corn syrup, would keep exports to Mexico's northern neighbour at around 1 million tonnes.