"We anticipate some port congestion this year given that demand (for Brazilian sugar) remains strong," said Carlos Murilo Barros de Mello, division director/managing director of the physical and derivatives sugar trading business of Macquarie Bank in Sao Paulo.
Last year, logistical problems at Brazilian ports led to major delays in loadings of new crop sugar at the peak of the harvest when international demand was strong, contributing towards a surge in sugar futures prices to 30-year highs.
"Brazilian companies are investing in logistics systems, and the country infrastructure improves every year," Barros de Mello told Reuters in an emailed interview.
"But the country offers plenty of opportunity to invest further and secure good investment returns on infrastructure projects benefiting from sugar export growth," he added.
Barros de Mello said collection of cane in the centre-south of Brazil would be delayed by a week due to poor cane quality at this early stage of the harvest.
"Given there is not much cane left over from last year and cane production can be easily crushed during the normal season, mills are preferring to postpone the start and allow for some yield improvements of an extra week."
Barros de Mello said he expected a cane crush of 560 million tonnes in the centre-south of Brazil, the country's main growing area, for 2011/12 and sugar production of 33.9 million tonnes.
He forecast that the sugar mix in cane would rise to 45.60 percent in 2011/12 from 44.80 percent the previous year.
This would mean that the ethanol mix in cane would fall to 54.4 percent in 2011/12 from 55.2 percent last year.
Brazilian mills are expected to maximise production of sugar in 2011/12 because sugar provides a premium over ethanol. (Reuters)
