With 39 mills up and working, and good weather to boot, Cuba is achieving higher sugar output than at the same stage of the previous harvest, Sugar Minister Ulises Rosales del Toro said on Tuesday. "The harvest is going well," Rosales del Toro told the state news agency Prensa Latina.
The minister said another 13 mills will start grinding sugar cane by next month and the raw sugar output will be on target when the harvest ends in April. He gave no figures. According to sources close to the industry and provincial plans reported by local media, Reuters estimates that Cuba plans to produce a minimum 1.6 million tonnes this harvest.
Officials said there is 12 percent more cane than last year when plans to produce between 1.5 and 1.6 million tonnes of raw sugar fell short and output was 1.2 million tonnes.
That dismal performance, among the lowest output levels in a century, was caused by late start-ups and other equipment problems. By last week, Cuba had twice as many mills working as last year. Weather conditions have also proven favourable, with milling and cane yields more or less what would be expected.
But chronic organisational and management problems still exist and could still threaten this year's output. The Cuban sugar harvest began in December and runs through the dry and cool months of January into April, but often carries on well into May and June when the hot rainy season sets in, slashing yields and efficiency.
Poor harvests in recent years have forced Cuba to import between 200,000 and 300,000 tonnes of low-grade whites annually from Colombia and Brazil. Cuba consumes a minimum 700,000 tonnes of sugar per year and 400,000 tonnes are destined for China.
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