Brazil's sugar output is lower than expected in August

UNICA, an industry group, reported on Wednesday that sugar production in Brazil's central-south region reached 3.11 million tons during the first half-month of August. This was a drop of 10.2% compared to last year, which was more than analysts had expected.

UNICA reported in a report, that the sugarcane crushing dropped 8.6% during this period to 43.83 millions tons. The total ethanol production also fell 2.19% to 2,30 billion liters.

Analysts surveyed by S&P Global Commodity Insights predicted sugar production at 3.29 million tonnes and crushing at 45.79 millions tons for the period.

UNICA reported that a study of the average sugarcane yields at the beginning of August revealed a 12.2% drop from a year ago to 86.6 tonnes per hectare.

The group stressed that the reduction in crushed volume early in August was not due to recent fires in sugarcane field in the area, since their impact occurred in the next two weeks.

Brazil is the largest sugar producer in the world. Reporting by Gabriel Araujo, Luana Marie Benedito and Jonathan Oatis.

(source: Reuters)