The average yield of crops in July increased by 6.3% compared to 2019, reaching 85.8 tons per hectare, indicate data from Cana Zoom, a report produced by the Union of the Sugarcane Industry (UNICA), in partnership with the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC), the TEMPOCAMPO System and the Integrated Laboratory for Data Analysis in Agribusiness and Bioenergy (LINEAR).

Of this productivity growth, 3.6% results from the harvest of a newer cane field. Accumulated for the current harvest, agricultural productivity in the Center-South region reached 86.3 tons per hectare, an increase of 3.4% in relation to the previous cycle, and the average age of the cane field reached 3.20 years, compared to 3.40 years of the previous harvest.

Cana Zoom also points to a higher concentration of sugars in the plant. From the beginning of the 2020/2021 harvest to the end of July, the Total Recoverable Sugar (ATR) index per ton of sugarcane in the Center-South region reached 135.2 kg compared to 128.8 kg in the last cycle, reaching a 4.9% growth. The climate issue was a determining factor for this.

In this year, the volume of rain was 50% lower than the historical average in the Center-South region. São Paulo and Minas Gerais were the most affected, showing a decrease of almost 60% in comparison with the historical level. In the month of July, the drought intensified the impacts on the crop, since the volume of rainfall recorded was almost nil, with all regions showing falls of more than 90% in the rainfall index in the month in relation to the climatological norm.

The dry climate also accelerated the progress of the harvest, which is 55% completed. The amount of sugarcane processed by the units in the Center-South grew 5.7% in relation to the previous cycle, totaling 326.59 million tons until the end of July. The area harvested in this period grew by 2.2% compared to the 2019/2020 harvest, reaching 3.78 million hectares in the Center-South. The result stems from the favorable climatic situation for the operationalization of the harvest, due to the dry climate recorded since the beginning of the harvest, which allowed the use of time in this period to remain above the historical average, reaching 88% in the accumulated of the harvest.