NEW YORK: US officials ditched ideas of a rise in Brazilian sugar output, and cut export forecasts to a seven-year low, despite boosting expectations for the cane harvest, thanks to yield-boosting rains.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Sao Paulo bureau lowered by 1.0m tonnes, to 35.0m tonnes, its forecast for overall sugar output in the top producing country in 2015-16, which started in April.
The downgrade – which took the figure below the 35.95m tonnes the bureau estimated for output last season – put production on course for a third successive season of decline from the record 38.6m tonnes achieved in 2012-13.
And the revision came despite an improved forecast for the country’s cane crop, lifted by 6% to 684m tonnes, reflecting a recovery in yields in the key Center South region from last year’s drought-affected levels.
