Brazil cane crop seen up in 2011/12

Date:04-07-2011

Brazil's 2011/12 cane crop is forecast to rise by 20 million tonnes in 2011/12 to 640 million tonnes, Leonardo Bichara Rocha, a senior economist with the International Sugar Organization (ISO), said on Tuesday.

He told the Reuters Global Food and Agriculture Summit that he expected sugar output in the main center-south growing region of Brazil, the world's top sugar producer, to rise by 2 million tonnes to 36.5 million tonnes in 2011/12.

Bichara Rocha said he anticipated delays in sugar loadings in Brazil again this year due to a lack of investment in ports.

"I think we'll see a repetition of what we saw last year when at some point we had more than 100 vessels queuing to load Brazilian sugar," he said.