It is reported by Reuters.

Cuba produced 1,8 million tonnes of raw sugar in the last harvest.

The milling season runs from late November through April when the weather is normally dry and temperatures cool and the cane plants yield the most sugar. Yields and output fall significantly after that as hot and humid summer weather sets in.

Most mills did not open this season until around the New Year in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. Then unseasonable rainfall shut most of the mills down for over a month. Many mills are now expected to remain open into May, and even June, if the weather permits.

Azcuba, the state sugar monopoly, planned to produce 1,6 million tonnes this season after drought and the hurricane damaged the crop, but then the wet weather further dampened expectations.

Azcuba said the sector would not rest until it meets the plan, which has suffered a readjustment of 20% (320,000 tonnes).

Las Tunas was expected to be the only province to produce more than 200,000 tonnes this season. The paper put the new plan at 141,000 tonnes.

The Cuban sugar ministry was eliminated in 2011 and Azcuba formed after output declined to 1,1 million tonnes, the lowest in more than a century and far below the eight million tonnes produced in 1990.

Cuba consumes between 600,000 and 700,000 tonnes of sugar a year and has an agreement to sell China 400,000 tonnes annually. It sells the rest on the open market. Sugar was long Cuba's most important industry and export, but today it ranks behind many sectors such as tourism, tobacco, nickel and pharmaceuticals.