SAO PAULO/NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Brazil’s new sugar season that starts in March should see a recovery from the current drought-hit crop as rains have returned to producing areas in the centre-south, Datagro consultancy said during a conference on Tuesday.
Datagro projects a sugarcane crop of between 530 and 565 million tonnes in the centre-south next season, up from 518 million tonnes currently. Sugar production is seen in a range between 31.6 and 33.7 million tonnes versus 31.9 million tonnes this year.
The new crop, however, would still be far from a record. Brazil produced more than 600 million tonnes of sugarcane in 2020/21, for example.
Datagro analyst Plinio Nastari said sugar companies are expected to increase crop care as the rains improve soil moisture and cane development conditions.
October has been very wet in Brazil, with cumulative precipitation well above average, giving relief to farmers after the worst drought in 90 years that cut production of sugar, coffee and corn.
Nastari said that despite the poor crop this year, mills managed to reach high profitability as prices for both sugar and ethanol remain near multi-year highs.
He anticipates challenges, however, such as high costs for crop care products as well as reduced availability of heavy machinery. Mills are having difficulty buying new tractors or harvesters, Nastari said, as a shortage of components crimps production of the machines in Brazil.
(Reporting by Roberto Samora and Marcelo Teixeira Editing by Chizu Nomiyama/Mark Heinrich)
((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net – https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))
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