COSTS VARIABLES IN SUGAR-CANE PRODUCTION AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PRODUCING REGIONS

Abstract

In the wake of the importance of Brazilian agribusiness for national economy and production growth within the sugarcane-fuel sector, costs assessment of producing areas may improve the establishment of production. Current analysis identifies the differences in production costs of sugarcane in the northeastern region of Brazil, the traditional center-south area and the center-south expansion area with regard to harvests between 2007/2008 and 2011/2012 in Brazil. Descriptive research employed documental and technical procedures and a quantitative approach. Tukey´s and Kruskal-Wallis´s statistical tests identified which costs had the highest statistically significant variations among the regions. Results show that highest mean cost implies mechanization in the traditional and expansion center-south region, whereas man power is proper to the northeastern region. Mechanization, land rent and man power revealed statistically significant differences of the variables under analysis.