Brazil Sugar Cane Up 8%

Avatar for Matt Hopkins By Scott C. Lucas|9 October 2006

Improved weather and expanded acreage led to an 8% increase in Brazilian sugar cane production for the 2006/07 marketing year, according to the Agricultural Trade Office (ATO)/Sao Paulo. The total forecast production is expected to reach 418 million metric tons.

Sugar cane area for 2006/07 is estimated at 6.55 million hectares (Ha), though yields are down slightly due to dry weather in some areas. The 2006/07 breakdown for sugar and ethanol production is 50.84% to 49.16% percent, respectively, compared to 48.52% to 51.48% for 2005/06. According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agriculture Service (USDA-FAS), total ethanol production for 2006/07 is estimated at 16.6 billion liters, up about 5% compared to 2005/06 (15.8 billion liters). Ethanol exports for 2005/06 are estimated at 2.48 billion liters, as reported by Brazilian Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX), while exports for 2006/07 are projected at 3.1 billion liters. The sharp increase is due to exports to the US during May-August 2006 (870 million liters, as opposed to 53 million liters for the same period in 2005).