- July rainfall has disappointed, coming in almost 25% below the average.
- Rainfall for the year is now well behind ‘normal’ levels which could affect cane development.
- There are still a couple of months to catch up but continued disappointing rainfall would lead us to reduce our crop number.
Rainfall Disappointing
- Cumulatively, the rainfall volume is now down by 34% y-o-y.
- July rainfall started well but ended up reaching only 75% of the average.
- This is due to the lower rainfall seen in Central and East despite a good rainfall recovery seen in North and Northeast.
Monthly Average Rainfall
Can Rainfall Catch Up?
- If rainfall doesn’t pick up in August and September, we might need to revise our 120m tonne cane forecast down.
- Sugarcane requires an annual rainfall volume of 1200mm – 1500mm during its growing phrase i.e January – September.
- Currently, we are well behind this level in 3 of the 4 regions and need above average rainfall to bring the volume up to required levels.
Regional Rainfall Vol (Jan-Sept)
Total Rainfall Since 1st January