The Sugar Harvest Grows But Fails to Meet the Plan

The Sugar Harvest Grows But Fails to Meet the Plan / 14ymedio, Orlando Palma
Posted on May 31, 2015

14ymedio, Orlando Palma, Havana, 29 May 2015 – As has already become a
tradition, Cubans will not know how many tons of sugar are ultimately
produced at the end of the 2014-2015 harvest. A summary of the report
prepared by the Azcuba Sugar Group, published by the newspaper Gramna,
limits itself to saying that, although the "plan is 45% below
expectations," production "experienced an 18% growth relative to the
prior year's milling."

According to the report, sugar production grew for the fifth consecutive
year but has not reached its target for a series of reasons. Among them,
the delay in making repairs, attributed to the late arrival of certain
resources, due in turn to the lack of deliveries on the part of the
importing countries. This detail alone had as a consequence that 11
sugar mills didn't start on time, "or started without testing the
machinery in advance, which increased the breakdowns during the milling."

A report by Azcuba president Orlando Celso Garcia to the Workers Center
of Cuba Plenary at the end of 2014, said that the mistakes of the past
would not be made again and announced that 15 million dollars were
invested in importing equipment for irrigation. He added that the
reception capacity in the collection centers will be increased and more
than 3,400 trailers will be added with a capacity of 20 tons each, along
with 80 re-engined Kamaz trucks and another 287 trucks without trailers.

Despite these forecasts, the main problem was the low capacity
utilization of the mills in the industry, which did not exceed 65%,
caused by downtime, plus missing the quantities in the cutting and
throwing of cane. On the other hand, performance improved as 100 tons of
cane crushed yielded an average of 10.27 tons of sugar, 0.77 more than
in the previous harvest. It is to this that the increase in total
production is due.

The report mentions the most outstanding provinces and sugar mills and
announced that, according to estimates, sugarcane mass will increase
between 15% and 20% annually in the coming years. Maybe by the end of
2015, when speaking of the next harvest, we will get to know how many
tons were produced in the harvest now ending.

Source: The Sugar Harvest Grows But Fails to Meet the Plan / 14ymedio,
Orlando Palma | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/the-sugar-harvest-grows-but-fails-to-meet-the-plan-14ymedio-orlando-palma/