Sugar crisis in Cuba: Only 15 mills will operate in the next harvest.
Cuba’s sugar industry faces ongoing challenges, with only 15 mills set to operate in the upcoming harvest. Despite Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa urging workers’ commitment, the sector struggles due to poor machinery maintenance, fuel shortages, and adverse weather. The 2022-2023 harvest, the worst since 1898, produced just 350,000 tons, far below the planned 455,198 tons. While efforts have been made to support cooperatives and retirees, structural reforms are needed to revive the historically vital industry, leading to rising sugar prices for Cuban citizens.
Despite the sugar shortage on the island, only 15 mills will be operational in the next harvest, confirming that the crisis in the sugar industry, historically key to the country’s economy, remains unsolved after several years.
Salvador Valdés Mesa, Vice President of the Republic, emphasized in a plenary session held in Havana on October 11 and 12 the need for sugar workers to remain committed and assured that the working class “will not fail the Revolution,” as reported by the official newspaper Trabajadores.
However, after demanding the sacrifice of the sugarcane workers, he indicated that the limitations of the sector are evident and require investments.
Jorge Luis Tapia Fonseca, vice president of the Council of Ministers, expressed concern about the low performance of almost half of the productive units in the country and emphasized the urgency of conducting a thorough evaluation of the sector and implementing concrete actions to recover it.
The current crisis is marked by historical issues in machinery maintenance, fuel shortages, and adverse weather conditions. Furthermore, although the regime has attempted to renegotiate the debts of many cooperatives, raise sugarcane prices, and improve care for retirees, the measures have not yet succeeded in saving the sector, the official explained.
Valdés Mesa and other leaders of the Communist Party of Cuba recognized that sugarcane production remains vital not only for the economy but also as part of the country’s identity and tradition.
However, the recovery of the industry will depend on structural changes, they said. The 2022-2023 harvest, with its 350,000 tons of sugar, became the worst harvest since 1898, when, during the War of Independence, Cuba’s sugar mills produced 300,000 tons.
The data confirms the brutal decline of a sector that once placed Cuba among the leading sugar exporters in the world. Of the 455,198 tons that the Cuban regime intended to produce, only 77 percent of the planned amount was achieved.
The final story is that the people and its citizens are the ones who pay the consequences. The pound of sugar has been marketed at 500 pesos due to the scarcity of this basic product, widely consumed in all households on the island.
Source Link : https://en.cibercuba.com/noticias/2024-10-15-u1-e199894-s27061-nid290190-crisis-azucarera-cuba-solo-15-centrales-moleran
