SAO PAULO/NEW YORK- Sugar production in the world's largest maker of the sweetener increased 51% in the first half of August when compared to a year earlier period, to 3.21 million tonnes for the centre-south region, industry group Unica said on Wednesday.

Mills continued to favor production of sugar at the expense of ethanol in Brazil as sales of the biofuel were down 18% in the annual comparison at 1.2 billion liters. Ethanol production was down 5.8% in the first half of August at 2.27 billion liters, Unica said.

(Reporting by Roberto Samora and Marcelo Teixeira) ((marcelo.teixeira@tr.com; +1 332 220 8062; Reuters Messaging: marcelo.teixeira.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net - https://twitter.com/tx_marcelo))