Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- The sugar-cane harvest in Brazil’s Center South, the world’s biggest producing region, may end next month after the worst rainfall in 45 years kept workers out of fields, according to Plinio Nastari, president of Sao Paulo- based research company Datagro Ltd.

Sugar-cane output may be about 530 million metric tons, with 56 million tons left in fields for harvesting next year, Nastari said in an interview at an International Sugar Organization conference in London today. Last year’s harvest extended into the first few months this year, and most processors “regret it” because they lost money, he said.

“The magic number is Dec. 22” for the end of the harvest, he said.

Raw sugar futures climbed to a 28-year high in September on speculation that supplies would be curbed by bad weather in Brazil and India.

Global supplies of sugar will fall short of demand for a third year starting October 2010, at 500,000 tons, compared with a deficit of 8.2 million tons in 2009-10, according to Nastari.

“Sugar is limited by the sugar production capacity” in Brazil, Nastari said. The Center South’s sugar-cane output will rise about 10 percent to 565 million to 590 million tons for 2010-11, while sugar output will increase about 9 percent to 31.6 million tons from 29.1 million tons this season, he said.

Brazil’s Center South harvested 30.2 million tons of sugar cane in the second half of October, down 10 percent from a year earlier, industry association Unica said Nov. 10. Sugar production totaled 24.7 million tons since March 1, up 9.1 percent from a year earlier, according to Unica.

To contact the reporter on this story: Claudia Carpenter in London at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 24, 2009 05:15 EST