14ymedio, Madrid, 14 June 2024 — Two weeks ago, Cuba’s 2023-2024 sugar harvest officially concluded, and it is not yet known what the amount projected for this year will be beyond the fact that it would be “higher than the previous one,” according to Julio García Pérez, director of Azcuba, in December. With 350,000 tons of sugar, the record was again negative, but the well has no bottom, and judging by the data of Sancti Spíritus, a new shipwreck is expected. The province harvested around 16,000 tons this week, approximately 75% of what was planned, the Escambray newspaper said on Thursday.
Many provinces prolonged the harvest beyond the formal calendar this year, in the words of the media, “given the interest of raising the inventory of crude oil for national distribution,” so the results are not final, and those of the rest of the Island remain to be known, but the partial data speak for themselves. In May the cane was only ground for 13 days, and there are many factors that contribute to the disaster, including that the mill grinds at 30% of its capacity, half of what was expected, and that there is still “an appreciable amount” of cane to be cut, almost six months after the beginning of the process.
“The mill is not working, and the sugar plan is small, synonymous with a simple harvest,” the newspaper says, returning to the words of the president of Azcuba, who advanced a new, modest but efficient, plan – something that already happened in 2022-2023, with the same result. The newspaper maintains that there is a lack of resources and the sugar is made “in drips,” while the grinding is reduced to a few hours “every two or three days,” sometimes only twice a week.
A great human job has been done “for organizing a harvest that had lost the match before it even began and will end in the middle of spring with the lowest production in provincial history”
The article praises the workers for making do with little fuel to grind the cane, which shows “decent indicators, some of which are registered as the best at the country level.” The phrase, devastating, warns of how the harvest is going on a national scale, since, the media insists, a great human job has been done “for organizing a harvest that had lost the match before it even began and will end in the middle of spring with the lowest production in provincial history.”
The Melanio Hernández sugar mill, in Tuinucú, solely responsible for the grinding, began badly, with a breakdown that kept it paralyzed in December, but this was the least of its problems. “For most of that time without grinding, there was a lack of fuel and oil for the engine, and the rains had an impact on the fields,” reports Escambray, which concludes that if the Uruguay sugar mill were active — the so-called Colossus of Jatibonico, which is being repaired with an investment and the help of Russian engineers — things would not only not be better, but could be worse.
“It has not been possible to cut the little cane that the territory has, and it only managed to plan a sugar production of about 21,000 tons, lower than the previous harvest,” admits the article, which attributes part of the evils to the “lack of financing and external measures designed to suffocate the economy,” although it does mention the lack of resources. Those resources could be greater if the Government invested in the sugar industry, which in 2023 obtained only 369 million pesos, compared to 410.1 million in 2022.
Escambray does not skimp on the characterization of the disasters: “The harvest has been bad because of the greatest weakness so far this century, the lack of raw material. It is impossible to grind the cane,” and “there is no harvest without fuel,” which is never guaranteed for transport – neither by truck or train – from the farthest cane field.
The worst is yet to come. According to Escambray, the need to extend the harvest to June is obvious, but at the same time the schedule of repairs and maintenance for the mill is being affected, and it could collapse. In addition, the planting of the next cane is now in danger. “It is enough to know that the province is utilizing only 40% of the area dedicated to cane and, of that, one part is of poor quality.”
Last year, Cuba was very far from the half-million tons of sugar it needs for national consumption, while its export commitments of 411,000 tons failed, with the consequent loss of foreign exchange
Mario Amador, president of the Nicaragua’s National Committee of Sugar Producers, announced on Thursday that their harvest closes with 1,777,210 tons of sugar, only 500 less than the best harvest in the country’s history
On the other hand, the Nicaraguan producers hope to get 220 million dollars thanks to a harvest that is nearing the record. Mario Amador, president of that country’s National Committee of Sugar Producers, announced on Thursday that their harvest closes with 1,777,210 tons of sugar, only 500 less than the best harvest in the history of the country.
The businessman celebrated the data, which were accomplished “despite the adverse weather conditions.” “We could say that it has been a record in all aspects of production. We had a record production of cane with more than 8,400,000 tons,” he said.
To this will be added the 294,467 tons of molasses, which if exported will amount to 50 million dollars more, a total of 270. Amador indicated that the sector, one of Nicaragua’s main exporting sectors, employs 136,000 people and that the fabulous production has led to the incorporation of 970 million kilowatt hours (KWh) in renewables thanks to biomass; that is, a contribution of 20 percent to the national energy consumption.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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