The Cuban sugar ministry said on Thursday the harvest was off to a slow start and yields were below expectations due to hot and humid weather, but expressed optimism that plans to boost output would be met.
"Even though the harvest began with a few complications, there is enough time to recover lost output," ministry spokesman Liobel Perez told the official news agency Prensa Latina. Perez said that 14 of 26 mills now grinding opened late and that unusually hot weather had affected yields, which he said had improved this week to just 1 point below expectations. Cuba had planned to have more than 40 of 50 mills open by the end of the month, with others opening in February and one in March.
Cuba is banking on this season marking the start of a new era for what was once its most important industry, after a 15-year decline from 8 million raw tonnes of sugar produced in 1990 to just 1.2 million tonnes in 2005.
Comments
Comments are closed.