Global Sugar prices slipped near a three-year low yet yesterday even as a further decline in output from Brazil's key Centre South region, as severe rains and the greater returns from converting cane into ethanol took their toll. The global raw sugar futures for October slipped down by around half a percent to end at 16.25 cents a pound in New York, tantalizingly near the lowest close since June 2010.
The drop came despite data showing a further decline in output from the Centre South, responsible for some 90% of Brazilian production, to 1.50m tonnes in the latest fortnightly period, the last half of June, well below a season high of 2.10m tonnes reached in the first half of May.
The total was also 16.4% below production in the second half of June 2012, the data, from cane industry group Unica, showed. The decline in output was down to severe rains, Unica said, although levels of precipitation varied greatly between regions, with some mills seeing very small setbacks, while in others the pace of cane processing slowed close to zero.
The volume of cane crushed fell 8.2% year on year to 29.1m tonnes during the fortnightly period. Mills turned most into ethanol, with the proportion converted into sugar coming in at 41.9% for both the two-week period and 2013-14 so far, which started in April. This compares with a cumulative 46.2% of cane turned into sugar as of this time last season, and was indeed the lowest figure but one of the last 10 years.
The drop came despite data showing a further decline in output from the Centre South, responsible for some 90% of Brazilian production, to 1.50m tonnes in the latest fortnightly period, the last half of June, well below a season high of 2.10m tonnes reached in the first half of May.
The total was also 16.4% below production in the second half of June 2012, the data, from cane industry group Unica, showed. The decline in output was down to severe rains, Unica said, although levels of precipitation varied greatly between regions, with some mills seeing very small setbacks, while in others the pace of cane processing slowed close to zero.
The volume of cane crushed fell 8.2% year on year to 29.1m tonnes during the fortnightly period. Mills turned most into ethanol, with the proportion converted into sugar coming in at 41.9% for both the two-week period and 2013-14 so far, which started in April. This compares with a cumulative 46.2% of cane turned into sugar as of this time last season, and was indeed the lowest figure but one of the last 10 years.
Source by Commodity Insights
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