Soaking Rains Boost dry Australian Sugar Cane Area

Good soaking rain is boosting the sugar cane crop in the key Mackay region of Queensland following a prolonged dry spell relieved only by intermittent falls, an Australian Sugar Producers Association spokesman told Reuters.

The rains began late last week, developed into heavy downpours over the weekend and are continuing today, he said from Brisbane.

The Mackay and Burdekin regions, which together grow about half the Australian cane crop, have been the Queensland cane areas hardest hit by unseasonal dry weather since December.

The spokesman said the rain missed the Burdekin area, just to the north of the Mackay region on the central Queensland coastal fringe, although recent light showers have freshened the crop there.

Owing to the dry spell in the Mackay and Burdekin areas, the overall 1987 Australian cane crop is likely to be below the 25.4 mln tonnes crushed in 1986 for a 94 net titre raws outturn of 3.37 mln tonnes, he said.

But any decline will not be as great as seemed likely a couple of months ago when it appeared the Mackay-Burdekin crops were going to suffer badly, he said.

Preliminary crop estimates are expected to be available early next month, the spokesman said.

The crush in the Mackay-Burdekin is likely to start later this year, in late June or early July against mid-June last year, to allow the cane to grow and sweeten further, he said.

The crush normally runs to around the end of December.

Elsewhere in the sugar belt, the cane is doing well, with some mill areas expecting record crops, he said.

Industry records show variations in the crop are not always mirrored in raws output. In 1985, 24.4 mln tonnes of sweeter cane than in 1986 produced 3.38 mln tonnes of raws.