São Paulo – The Sugarcane Industry Union (Unica, in the Portuguese acronym) has revised its sugarcane output estimate for Mid-South Brazil by 1.8% in 2012-2013. The organization, alongside the Cane Farming Technology Centre (CTC) and other sugar and energy industry unions and associations, has raised the projection from 509 million tonnes, dating from April, to 518.5 million tonnes. The region is the leading sugar and ethanol producer in the country.
The volume is up 5.14% from the 2011-2012 crop. According to the Unica, the increase is due to more rains than expected in June. As a result, productivity in August reached 76.6 tonnes of cane per hectare. The result is higher than in August of last year, during which the volume was 66.8 tonnes.
The Unica’s sugar output projection was revised to 32.7 million tonnes, down 1.21% from the estimate as of the beginning of the crop. Still, the forecast total will be up 4.46% from the 31.3 million tonnes produced during the last crop. As for ethanol production, 21.05 billion litres are expected, down 2.03% from the initial projection, but still up 2.47% from last crop.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
