USDA Lifts Sugarcane Crop Estimate

WASHINGTON - Jan 12/06 - SNS -- Sugarcane output for sugar and seed is estimated at 27.9 million tons, 3% above the December forecast but 4% below last year's 29.0 million tons, according to the USDA's final crop production report for 2005.

Area harvested and to be harvested for sugar and seed is estimated at 922,900 acres for the 2005 crop year, unchanged from the December forecast but down 2% from 2004. Yield is estimated at 30.2 tons per acre, 1.0 ton above last month, but 0.7 ton below last year's yield.

Three major hurricanes impacted the sugarcane crop during 2005 - Katrina and Rita in Louisiana and Wilma in Florida. Significant acreage was lost to wind damage and storm surge, while yield was depressed on the remaining acreage in the paths of the hurricanes.

Louisiana's yield of 23.0 tons per acre is an improvement over previous assessments of hurricane damage to the 2005 crop but is still the lowest yield since 1993. At 33.1 tons per acre, unchanged from December, Florida's sugarcane yield is the lowest since 1996. Due to poor yields in the 2 top-producing States, the US yield fell to its lowest level since the 1934 estimate, the first to include Hawaii's high-yielding crop.

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