MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Cuba joins world rush for alternative fuels

Cuba plans to triple sugar production to 3 million tons and join the world rush for alternative fuels, the official AIN news agency reported this week in Havana.
“The Sugar Ministry is working to expand production by planting an additional 30% area thus increasing the annual harvest to three million tons”, added AIN.

However meeting that target is a great challenge and huge increase over the 1.2 million tons of sugar expected to be harvested this year.

"The international situation with the surge in sugar and ethanol prices, and prospects of further increases, provide new production incentives for the industry" said AIN.

Luis Galvez, director of an institute that conducts research on products derived from sugar, said at a conference earlier this week that Cuba planned to launch a program to quadruple production of alcohol from sugar cane to take advantage of world demand for alternative fuels. International Sugar Organization chief Peter Baron said at the same forum that a project of the scale planned by Cuba would require an investment in the range of 100 million US dollars.

The decision to boost sugar production contrasts with 2002 events when 70 of the island's 156 sugar mills were closed down as part of a restructuring of the industry. Half of the land with sugar cane has since been changed to other crops and ranching.

The rise in sugar prices and demand for bio-fuels prompted Cuban officials to freeze the implementation of the second phase of the restructuring plan, which called for closing another 39 mills.

When Fidel Castro took power in 1959, Cuba was among the world's leading sugar exporters with an annual crop of over six million tons.