NEW YORK: Brazil's center-south sugar production fell 25% in the second half of April compared to a year earlier to 1.51 million tonnes, as cane agricultural yields lag last year's by more than 10%, industry group Unica said on Wednesday.

Drier-than-normal weather in recent months in Brazil hurt sugar cane development and led plants to have a slow start to harvest in the current season. Cane crush late in April was 22% smaller than a year earlier to 29.6 million tonnes, Unica said.