BRAZIL: UNICA says mills start 2010/11 harvest
Published: 03/04/2010, 4:14:41 PM
UNICA says A handful of Brazilian sugar and ethanol mills have begun harvesting and crushing the 2010/11 crop, despite continued wet weather in the country's main centre-south sugar cane region, according to Argus.
At least seven mills have started crushing operations in several states in the region, adding to the 40-odd mills that harvest continually during the rainy inter-harvest period.
There are almost 400 mills in the centre-south. They will begin to come on stream in greater numbers in March, even though April is officially the start of the cane crop year. Mills have been starting crushing operations sooner and continuing them later into the traditionally rainy inter-harvest period, which typically runs from mid-December to March.
Pump prices for biofuel have begun to fall sharply - by roughly 10pc over the past few weeks to around BRL1.75 /litre (US$0.98/l) in Sao Paulo - after rising ethanol prices prompted owners of flex-fuel cars to switch to gasoline from ethanol in past months.
Santa Helen in southern Mato Grosso do Sul is one of the mills that have resumed crushing the new crop, as has the DCOIL mill and the Caarapo mill belonging to milling group Cosan in the same region. The Cooperativa Nova Productiva mill in Parana state and the Corradinho mill in Sao Paulo have resumed crushing after a two-month down period during the inter-harvest. The Porto das Aguas and Sao Francisco mills in Goias state have also started harvesting.