SAO PAULO, May 23 (Reuters) - Cane processing and sugar production in Brazil's main producing region in the first half of May remained below levels seen at this time in the previous season, as late cane development and poor sugar prices give no reason for mills to rush.
According to a report by cane industry group Unica, center-south mills crushed 38.63 million tonnes of cane in the first half of May, 9.7% less than a year earlier, and produced 1.59 million tonnes of sugar, 16% less than in same period last season, Unica said.
Unica's technical director Antonio de Padua Rodrigues said in the report that mills are carrying a crushing delay equivalent to 20 million tonnes of cane. He said that an eventual recovery on the processing pace will depend on the weather ahead.
Low global sugar prices contribute to delayed harvesting, as mills have no reason to speed up production and delivery of sugar to the market.
Ethanol output reached 1.78 billion liters in the first half of May, 14% less than in the same period a year earlier, even amid very strong demand in the local market as the biofuel continues to have a price advantage over gasoline.
Ethanol sales volumes early in May were 15.9% larger than in the same period last year. Sales of hydrous ethanol, the type that competes directly with gasoline at pumps, were record at 934 million liters, 21% larger than in May, 2018.
See below detailed figures from Unica's crop report for the first half of May (cane and sugar in million tonnes, ethanol in billion liters, total recoverable sugar-TRS in kg per tonne):
BRAZIL'S CENTER-SOUTH - 1st HALF OF MAY (ANNUAL COMPARISON)
2018/19
2019/20
PCT CHANGE
CANE CRUSH
42.78
38.63
-9.71
SUGAR OUTPUT
1.90
1.59
-16.34
ETHANOL OUTPUT
2.08
1.78
-14.28
TRS (kg/T)
128.24
119.65
-6.70
CANE TO SUGAR
36.48 pct
36.22 pct
BRAZIL'S CENTER-SOUTH CUMULATIVE DATA - 2018/19 VS 2019/20
102.95
84.14
-18.27
4.15
2.97
-28.43
4.83
4.01
-17.00
120.55
114.90
-4.68
35.15 pct
32.29 pct
Source: Cane Industry Group Unica