Havana: The sugar harvest in Cuba is wrapping up with the lowest amount of sugar produced since 1900. This means the government has to buy sugar from other countries.
It’s also making things hard for industries like rum, soft drinks, and medicine, as they need sugar. The president said they only reached 71% of their target for sugar production. The hot, rainy weather in May makes it harder to produce sugar. Cuba used to be a big sugar exporter, but things changed after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989. Since then, they’ve been making less and less sugar each year. This year, they’ve made only about 300,000 metric tons of sugar. The production of alcohol from sugar cane, which is used in making rum and medicines, has also gone down by more than half since 2019. This is because of strict rules from the U.S. and the effects of COVID-19. The shortage of things like fertilizer and fuel has made it even harder to grow and harvest sugar cane. Cuba usually consumes about 700,000 metric tons of sugar each year and sells the rest. But now, industries like rum-making are struggling because they can’t get enough sugar from Cuba. Some Cuban mills tried to help by making molasses for rum, but it didn’t solve the problem. The situation is tough for industries that depend on sugar.
