As expected, the production of sugar in Cuba does not seem to overcome the worst prospects and in the first two months of the 2022-2023 cycle only 69% of what was forecast has been obtained, he confirmed to Granma the state group Azcuba. The problems continue to be the same as in previous years: the lack of financing to purchase inputs and the energy crisis, the newspaper of the Communist Party pointed out in a note which moves away from the usual triumphalism from the title: The harvest is going better, but not all the expected sugar is produced.
the harvest started at the end of November with the goal of producing 455,198 tons after the meager results of the previous year, when production closed at its lowest level in the last century and only 68% of the 1.2 million tons planned were met.
Dionnis Pérez, director of Information Technology, Communications and Analysis of the state monopoly, told the official newspaper that the small harvest –November and December– was 2.3 times higher than that of the previous campaign. This slight increase is explained by the recovery of some 7,000 tons of sugar “in concept of industrial efficiency”, which allowed for a 1.14% improvement in yield, he explained.
The spokesperson for the state group pointed out that only seven mills complied with the small harvest plan, including the 14 de Julio sugar mills
However, the spokesperson for the state group pointed out that only seven mills complied with the small harvest plan, including the 14 de Julio (Cienfuegos), Melanio Hernández (Sancti Spíritus), Ciudad Caracas (Cienfuegos), Fernando de Dios ( Holguin) and Hector Rodriguez (Villa Clara).
With 15 days of delay, the Boris Luis Santa Coloma power plant, in Mayabeque, is the one with the most delays in the production plan. Later, the Mario Muñoz (Matanzas) and Enidio Díaz (Granma) plants, with four days, as well as Ciro Redondo (Ciego de Ávila) and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (Camagüey), with two.
Pérez recognized that sugar production is facing the same difficulties as a year ago, associated, on the one hand, with the lack of resources to buy the inputs and machinery necessary for the activities of the mills and the cultivation of cane, and, on the other, to the constant blackouts that the Island suffers at the time of repairs.
The sugar sector, which in other times was considered the motor of the Cuban economy, also operates with obsolete machinery and suffers constant breakdowns. According to the official, the deficiencies that most affected the grinding occurred in the turbogenerators of the Urbano Noris (Holguín), Mario Muñoz (Matanzas) and 30 de Noviembre (Artemisa) power plants. In addition, there were problems with the air compressors at the Dos Ríos mill (Santiago de Cuba) and in the centrifuges at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (Camagüey).
To ensure production, the official added, the group will resort to cutting and shooting at the Primero de Enero sugar mill (Ciego de Ávila).
To ensure production, added the official, the group will resort to cutting and shooting at the Primero de Enero sugar mill (Ciego de Ávila), in addition to guaranteeing the early start of Ecuador (Ciego de Ávila), Antonio Sánchez (Cienfuegos) and the Majibacoa (Las Tunas).
In this harvest, 23 mills participate in order to “ensure sugar for national consumption and other prioritized destinations,” adds the note from Granma.
After having been one of the main world exporters for decades, the Cuban sugar industry has collapsed and no longer covers domestic consumption, which fluctuates between 600,000 and 700,000 tons per year with the distribution of four pounds per person per month through the ration book. In recent years, Cuba had to import beet sugar from France to cover its internal needs and to be able to dedicate a part of its production to the export contracts signed in advance with China.
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