Stumpy Brazil Cane Crop Signaling Global Sugar Deficit
This article is for subscribers only.
Brazilian cane-grower Jose Rodolfo Penatti can see evidence from his house window that the world is heading for its first sugar-production deficit in four years.
On the 150 acres his family has farmed in Sao Paulo state since the 1950s, stalks are half the normal height of more than three meters (9.8 feet) and brown rather than green, after a drought from January through March parched the Center South region. “It’s the worst scenario I’ve ever seen,” said Penatti, 54, who estimates he’ll lose 20 percent of his harvest.