BRAZIL: Sugarcane production up 7% during last half of December

Published: 01/11/2013, 7:30:21 AM

Brazil's main sugarcane crush in the 2012/13 growing season surpassed the crush in the year-earlier period, while other key sugar production numbers also improved from a year earlier, according to Dow Jones.
Mills in the key centre-south region, which grows around 90% of Brazil's sugar cane, crushed 20.75 million metric tonnes of cane in December, UNICA said in a biweekly crop update. The accumulated crush for the 2012/13 season through Dec. 31 reached 531.35 million tonnes, an increase of 7.74% from the previous season, the sugarcane industry association said.
The season is practically finished, with only about 10 mills still functioning, so the accumulated figures are very close to the final figures, UNICA said.
Accumulated ethanol output through Dec. 31 increased 3.58% to 21.28 billion litres, following production of 895.96 million litres in December.
Sugar production rose 8.84% to 34.07 million tonnes in the season through Dec. 31 compared with a year earlier, after production of 1.16 million tonnes in December.