Brazil Turns More Sugar Cane Into Fuel as Yields Drop

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian sugar and ethanol mills in the country's biggest producing region turned 67 percent of the cane output into ethanol through the end April to ensure supplies as rains pared yields.About 40 mills delayed the start of the harvest because of rainfall, the Center-South Sugar and Ethanol Industry Association, known as Unica, said today in an e-mailed statement.Above-average rainfall in the Center-South region, which accounts for more than 80 percent of Brazil's sugar and ethanol output, is reducing the cane's sucrose, the substance that the sweetener and fuel are made from. Mills are turning more of the crop into ethanol to ensure gasoline stations have sufficient supplies to meet domestic demand.``The mills adopted this unusual strategy to offset the difficulties caused by rain,'' Unica said in the statement.By the end of April, 170 of the region's 315 mills began production, Unica said. An additional 85 started up in the first two weeks of May, and 60 more will join them in the second half of this month.The rains prevented growers from harvesting 10 million tons of sugar cane in March and April, Unica said. Most sugar-cane farms start harvesting in April, when it's usually dry in the Center South. Some growers in drier regions begin in March.