SOUTH Africa expects its 2001/02 season raw sugar output to fall to around 2,5-million tonnes from last year’s record 2,729-million tonnes because of poor quality cane, the South African Cane Growers’ Association said on Tuesday. ”We’re hoping to crush 2,73-million tonnes of raw sugar, but that is a bit optimistic. We will probably head for a crop a bit lower than that because cane quality is down a bit on last year,” said Brian Sugden, the association’s director of agricultural economics. ”We will probably get about 2,5 to 2,55-million tonnes this season,” Sugden said. The quality of the cane crushed so far was down on last season because of the poor state of cane carried into the new crushing season as well as low rainfalls in the crucial growing months of January and February, he said. Last season’s crop generated local market sales of R3,04- billion compared to R2,96-billion previously. Export revenue climbed to about R1,87-billion from R1,27-billion. – Reuters