SUGAR HARVESET LAGS BEHIND SCHEDULE.(Cuba)

Cuba's sugar harvest remained well behind schedule with the official media reporting that Villa Clara was the first province to produce 200,000 tons of raw sugar, six weeks later than the first province last year, reports Reuters (April 7, 2003):

During the 2001/02 harvest Eastern Las Tunas reached 200,000 tons of sugar on Feb. 22. Central Villa Clara produced around 370,000 tons of sugar during the 2001/02 harvest of 3.61 million tons and reached the 200,000-ton mark on Feb. 27, and 300,000 on March 29. "Industrial yields of 11 percent are stable, though milling has been slowed by shortages of fuel and spare parts," the state-run AIN news agency said of Villa Clara, …