Cuban raw sugar output tops one million tonnes so far

Cuba said on Tuesday it had produced one million tonnes of raw sugar so far in the 2016-2017 harvest season, toward an estimated goal of just over 2 million tonnes. Liobel Perez Hernandez, spokesperson for AZCUBA, the state-run sugar monopoly, told the state-run Cuban News Agency that the mark had been reached earlier than in the previous 15 harvests.
Reuters estimated the country produced 1.5 million to 1.6 million tonnes of raw sugar in 2015-16.
Cuban sugar harvesting begins in late November when a few mills open and gradually picks up with all mills operating by February. The harvest officially ends in April, though some mills usually stay open late into May.
AZCUBA said in November that it planned to produce 30 percent more than the previous harvest. A compilation of provincial plans published in local media indicated the goal was over 2.1 million tonnes.
"Despite the production to date, the harvest is behind schedule due to mills operating below capacity," Perez was quoted as stating on Tuesday.
State-run media said earlier this month that the harvest was 10 percent behind schedule.
The 2015-16 harvest was plagued by drought and then unseasonably heavy rainfall caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
This season's crop has benefited from normal weather across most of the country, though drought conditions persist in a number of areas.
Only some 15 percent of the crop benefits from irrigation and adequate drainage.
Cuba consumes between 600,000 and 700,000 tonnes of sugar a year and has an agreement to sell China 400,000 tonnes annually.
Sugar was long Cuba's most important industry and export with output reaching 8 million tonnes in 1991, but today it ranks seventh in exports behind sectors such as tourism, tobacco, nickel and pharmaceuticals.