Cosan sees 7-8 pct growth in 09/10 cane crushing

SAO PAULO Dec 15 (Reuters) - Cosan (CSAN3.SA), one of Brazil's largest sugar and ethanol groups, said on Monday it expects to crush 7 to 8 percent more sugar cane in 2009/10 than in the current season, and expects sales to rise.

Cosan's 18 mills are expected to crush 43.9 million to 44.4 million tonnes of cane in the current crop, up 9 to 10 percent from 2007/08.

"We should finish harvesting next weekend with a record crush," said Cosan chief operating officer, Pedro Mizutani, adding that one of the groups' mills has already stopped and another should finish crushing by around Dec. 25.

Cosan (CZZ.N) will release a final figure for this season's crush to the market in the coming days, he said.

"The amount of cane to be left in the fields for next year should be around 7 percent (of the crop)," Mizutani told reporters in a conference call about quarterly earnings.

The company posted a $114.1 million loss between August and October due to the increased cost of repaying its dollar-denominated debt after the local currency, the real BRBY, fell sharply against the U.S. dollar. [nN13462170]

Brazil's crop supply agency Conab said in a report on Monday that delays caused mainly by the wet weather during the season will cause mills to leave a record amount of cane to be processed in early 2009. [nN15312756]

Traders and analysts put the amount of cane to be carried over into 2009 at up to 40 million tonnes.

Sales prospects for 2009 are also positive as the global sugar market moves into a deficit and Brazilian flex-fuel cars are expected to consume a record volume of cane-based ethanol, said Cosan's director of finance and investor relations, Paulo Diniz.

"Naturally, there's still a big question mark over prices but in terms of volume, we view the (sugar and ethanol) sector more optimistically (than in 2008)," Diniz said.

He added it was not decided yet if Cosan will pursue with its plans to invest in two more greenfield projects in Goias state. The group said it could shelve plans to build new plants if the price of the existing ones fell because of the global financial crisis. (Editing by Marguerita Choy)