Sugarcane milling in Brazil increases at the beginning of December, but does not meet forecast

SAO PAULO, Dec 26 (Reuters) - Sugarcane milling in Brazil spiked in early December on an annual basis, industry group Unica said on Monday, as dozens of plants continue to operate this season after being forced to stop production earlier than expected due to bad weather a year ago. Still, milling in Brazil's central-southern region fell short of market expectations amid increased rainfall in the country's main sugarcane belt. Sugarcane processing more than sevenfold on-year to 5.61 million tons, but analysts polled by financial information provider S&P Global Commodity Insights forecast it would reach 6.58 million tons in the period. "It seems that the rains in the first half of December were detrimental to operations, and some mills had to leave some cane in the fields," said Luciana Torrezán, head of sugar analysis at S&P Global Commodity Insights, noting that almost five days of production were lost due to rain in the period. According to Unica, 47 mills were still operational ...