UPDATE 1-Trader Wilmar cuts projection for Brazil sugar output

(Adds details of projections, context)

By Marcelo Teixeira

NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Asian commodities trader Wilmar International on Monday cut its projections for sugar production in Brazil in the 2024/25 season, saying agricultural yields and cane quality are falling quickly due to dryness and fires in farmland.

Wilmar said it now expects Brazil's Centre-South (CS) production in a range between 38.2 and 39.5 million metric tons, down from 38.8-40.8 million tons seen in September. The trader also published a preliminary estimate for Brazil's CS 2025/26 sugarcane crop at 570-590 million tons. "Prevailing crop conditions have continued to be catastrophic," said Wilmar in a note, citing lack of rains, high temperatures and massive fire occurrences.

It estimated fires reached 700,000 hectares of sugarcane fields in Brazil, a higher estimate than other groups published in the country so far which were around 400,000 hectares.

Wilmar said cane replanting was impacted by the fires, which will result in an older cane profile, less productive, for the new crop (2025/26).

Wilmar was the sole receiver of

sugar delivered

at the expiration of the October contract on ICE earlier this month. It will receive 1.7 million tons of raw sugar, mostly at the ports of Santos and Paranagua in Brazil in coming months.

Rains have

finally returned

to most of Brazil's CS over the last few days, and more is expected going forward. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira, Editing by Franklin Paul)