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The drop in sugar production was in part caused by tighter availability of cane, according to agricultural statistics agency Conab's final forecast for the 2017/18 crop. Conab saw cane production falling to 633 million tonnes in 2017/18 compared to 657 million tonnes in previous season, as ageing fields produced smaller volumes.
Total ethanol output fell only slightly to 27.76 billion liters from 27.8 billion liters in 2016/17.