Figures from five public mills, released by the Consejo Estatal del Azucar (CEA) reveal that profitability levels have significantly decreased during the present sugar-making season. According to CEA technical staff, since production started this year the cost/revenue ratio has remained below the required 10 centavos-per-pound mark, fluctuating around 8.64 centavos per pound.
The sources consulted told the Hoy newspaper that such a poor performance is a sign that this season is doomed to failure, adding that the situation is so critical that in some instances deficiency levels have attained 79 percent. They attribute the mills’ low productivity to the refusal by private growers to hand over about 51 percent of the crop for lack of payment – the government owes these growers some RD$381 million from the last season.
Last year’s productivity ratio averaged 7.88 percent, causing the corporation losses totaling RD$612 million.
Since 1985, CEA has been gradually reducing sugar production, moving from 554 million tonnes that year to barely 222 million in 1995. While in 1985 the corporation produced 1.5 million tonnes more than private sugar mills, its current output is only 78 percent that of the independent producers.