A senior Cuban official has asked the sugar industry to produce more than 1.7 million tons of raw sugar in the 2018/19 squeezing season after a disastrous squeezing season, state media reported. Joss Ventura, the second secretary-general of the Communist Party of Cuba, said the squeezing season was tough and 300,000 tonnes of sugar that had been booked for export had not been produced.

Cuba's sugar industry rarely meets the government's production targets, but the need to increase production after a bad 17/18 squeezing season is desperate. Cuba has imported some refined French sugar to meet the basic consumption of residents for the first time in nearly more than 10 years.

According to data from the International Sugar Organization (ISO), 16/17 produced 1 million 800 thousand tons of raw sugar and exported 1 million 100 thousand tons of sugar. However, a long drought, Hurricane Irma in September last year and unusual rainfall damaged sugar cane during the next squeezing season. Although Cuba has not released official data, according to state media reports and sugar industry sources, Reuters estimates that Cuba's 17/18 squeezing season output is slightly higher than 1 million tons, close to the level 100 years ago.

Cuba consums 60-70 tons of sugar and exports to China 400 thousand tons, while the rest is sold in the international market.

At the Sugar Workers'Conference in Havana, Ventura and other leaders called for greater discipline between workers and farmers to work harder to overcome outdated equipment, dilapidated infrastructure and labor shortages. They also pointed out that Cuba urgently needed to export more sugar in the wake of the economic crisis in Venezuela, increased hostility from the United States and reduced export revenues.

Usually, the Cuban squeezing season begins in early November, and in mid-January all the sugar mills (about 50) are squeezed because of the cool and dry weather; most of the sugar mills are squeezed in May. This year, the 20 sugar mills are planning to squeeze in November, the first of which will be squeezed next week. To avoid more sugar imports, the rest of the sugar refineries will be squeezed by the end of this year, except for 2 sugar factories.

The sugar industry was once Cuba's most important industry and export industry, with sugar production reaching 8 million tons in 1991, but today it is behind tourism, tobacco, nickel and pharmaceuticals in terms of foreign exchange earning capacity.

From: Agricultural Futures Network