NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) - The global sugar market is

expected to have a smaller-than-anticipated supply surplus in

2024/25 (Oct-Sept) despite rising production in Asia, due to a

significant reduction on the Brazilian crop, broker StoneX ( SNEX ) said

on Wednesday.

StoneX ( SNEX ) cut its projection for Brazil's Centre-South

sugar output by nearly 2 million metric tons to 40.5 million

tons due to this year's lower quality of the sugarcane and a

smaller-than-expected cane allocation to sugar production.

The broker said Brazilian mills are keeping a relatively

high level of ethanol production, answering to higher domestic

demand, so they are not earmarking the amount of cane to sugar

production that was expected at the start of the harvest in

March.

It cut its view on total cane allocation to sugar, the

so-called sugar mix, to 50.5% for the crop from 52% projected in

May.

Other major changes for large producers included an increase

of 500,000 tons for China to 11 million tons and a reduction of

200,000 tons for Russia to 6.8 million tons. India's number was

kept at 28.8 million tons.

As a result, The broker projected a surplus of 1.21 million

metric tons in 2024/25 from 2.51 million tons estimated in May.

The view is slightly more positive for sugar prices than

recent updates on projections by other analysts, who actually

increased their estimates on the surplus.