Havana / Madrid /Lucia does not leave her astonishment every time, like this Tuesday, she arrives at the winery to collect the module that, as a donation, delivers the government from time to time. “It seems quite amazing that another country donates sugar to this,” he says, incredulous. The free distribution of this February, began yesterday in Havana, after presentation of the identity card, with the products that some “friendly nations” contribute.
On this occasion, the combo has a package of 500 grams of spaghetti from Turkey, a kilo of Brazilian sugar and a can of sardines in oil from Venezuela for pregnant women, children and adults than 65. The amount is based on what the Authorities called “family nuclei” and increases according to how many people live under the same roof.
The delivery of these modules, which is carried out regularly from at least July 2021 and includes very basic products arrived EverywhereI should be used to Lucia to meet the usual foreign sugar package, but she is retired, who has met the best years of the harvest on the island, she continues to take her hands.
On this occasion, the combo has a package of 500 grams of spaghetti from Türkiye, a kilo of Brazilian sugar and a can of sardines in oil from Venezuela
Nothing suggests that things can change in the short or medium term. The sugar industry is in unrecoverable conditions and the 2024-2025 harvest runs without knowing the production data of the previous one. The last one of which there is data is the one corresponding to 2022-2023, when 350,000 tons of sugar were achieved, the worst harvest since 1898 and well below the national demand, estimated at at least half a million. The ghost data, and this has been recognized, is worse than that, although it is not known how much.
In recent days, the provincial press has been offering some data that allow to verify that things do not paint better for this contest. This Tuesday, Escambray said that the Tuinucú central, Melanio Hernández “has managed to stabilize its passage”but he has “debts still in his production plan in about 3,000 tons.”
/ 14ymedio
Antonio Viamontes, director of the sugar company, indicated that there have been 7,400 tons of raw sugar to date, only 40%, due to the delay accumulated by the cane. Other ballast have been the fuel deficit, faults in the machinery or poor performance of workers, but on the positive side is the machinery performance. In addition, the ingenuity not only is self -abducted, but also delivers more than 40 megawatts (MW) to the national electrical system (SEN), the salar 60% of the cane – with which to cushion the inconveniences.
More pressure are in the central Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, the unique in Camagüey who will manufacture sugar and whose destination is, fundamentally, the basket. The goal is to obtain 23,500 tons, moving 250 daily cane for 115 days. Personnel shortage feels on the one hand in this ingenuity, where half of the workers are new. In return, you will receive the experience of other companies that will not make a zafra this year.
In its case, the plant also self -stared, but barely contributes 1 MW to SEN. “There is no other option to fulfill, and the workers are clear about the role they have to guarantee those 23,500 tons, in a province with sugar tradition, but that in recent years has been well below their real potentialities and far from complying The plans ”, He warned Tuesday Granma.
“There is no other option to fulfill, and the workers are clear about the role they have to guarantee those 23,500 tons, in a province with sugar tradition, but that in recent years has been well below their potentialities,”
In Santiago de Cuba, two centrals will grind, although only one of them does it for the basket. This is the two rivers, located in Palma Soriano and that assumes the burden of free America, in countermastre, and Julio Antonio Mella, in the municipality of Mella – remember that this year They will make hard just 14 centralsif everyone succeeds. Its task is to make 20,000 tons of sugar, but it is already late if it is taken into account that it started last weekend.
“The factory started without setbacks, the parameters conceived in the different areas are checked, between Monday and Tuesday it must contribute the first tons of sugar for the basket and social consumption,” said its administrator, Osvaldo Arias. The purpose, he says Sierra Maestrait is “to leave in the past the breaches and make the rational and effective use of human, material and financial resources a pillar of their management.”
The other Santiago central who participates in the contest is the Paquito Rosales, in San Luis, but in his case he is called to produce me. Although, the provincial newspaper stands out, “it is not renounced to manufacture, if possible, sugar, after the Extraordinary repair process to which it was submitted and that gave notable results. ”
In Las Tunas, where the central Antonio Guiteras is active – of which is expected much more than the homonymous thermoelectric plant – 130 tons of good quality sugar occurred this Sunday, for the joy of the authorities, which told newspaper 26.
Carlos Górgora Serrano, head of production of the central, celebrated that this had been the best day of the current contest And he considered it evidence of the improvement of ingenuity, a relief when he is the one with the most commission for this year, greater than 40,000 tons and that, together with that of Majibacoa they must amount to 61,000.
To put the figures in perspective, in 2015 the Guiteras achieved, by itself, 100,000 tons of sugar, an amount that is ridiculous if compared to the 218,000 of 1983, national record in the harvest, never exceeded
The industry has five mills in operation and is necessary, said Górgora, who joins one more, since the current amount “does not allow you to meet expectations.”
To put the figures in perspective, In 2015 the Guiteras achievedby itself, 100,000 tons of sugar, amount that is ridiculous if compared to the 218,000 of 1983, national record in the harvest, never exceeded.
In A meeting held on TuesdayEduardo Walter Cueli, Coordinator of Programs and Objectives of the Provincial Government, attributed to the Sugar Sugars of Las Tunas the majority of the deficit of public accounts, 1.8 billion of the total 2,600 that have left 35 state entities. The official stressed that in 2024 “more than 50,000 tons of sugar were ceased to produce, which directly affected social consumption and local food industry, as well as the supply chain of sugar derivatives.”
