Some 40 Cuban sugar mills remain open out of season despite a partial lockdown of the country, in a last-ditch effort to add foreign exchange to the government's all-but-empty coffers.
The coronavirus pandemic has shuttered tourism, a key foreign exchange earner, and undercut remittances as well as raised shipping prices for the import-dependent country, already reeling from stepped-up sanctions under the administration of US President Donald Trump.
However, economic activity continues, from farming and construction to mining, with the Communist-run government directing scarce resources to food production and export earners such as sugar and nickel.
When the harvest began in November, Cuba said it would have produced 1.5 million metric tons of raw sugar by May, of which 800,000 tons would be for export - despite shortages of fuel and other supplies
To date, just two of 13 sugar-producing provinces have met their targets and Reuters estimates total output at 1.1 million metric tons to 1.2 million metric tons, based on provincial media reports and sources with knowledge of the harvest.