| MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Most of Mexico's 60 active sugar
mills have returned to normal after a nationwide 25-day strike by the
country's powerful sugar workers unions last month, but severe delays in
the harvest persist.
Seriously delayed in many sugar growing areas was the repair and
maintenance work needed to be carried out on mills before processing of
the new 2000/01 harvest could begin.
By Jan. 13 only 49 mills were operating, compared with 54 at this time
of the harvest one year ago. By Jan. 13, according to the government's
Agroindustry Sugar Committee figures released on Wednesday, weekly sugar
output was 37,044 metric tons, or 19% lower than a year ago, and overall
output to date was 31% lower at 581,949 tons.
Mexico's National Sugar & Alcohol Industries Chamber estimates that
250,000 metric tons of semi-refined standard sugar has been lost because
of the strike, and it may not be possible to recover the lost output. If
seasonal rains come early - traditionally rains arrive in Mexico's largest
sugar producing state of Veracruz in early May - rural dirt roads and
fields will be flooded and so hinder an extension of the harvest period at
the end of the crop cycle.
Sugar traders and industry analysts have noted that losses will be
bigger if Mexico's largest sugar groups and sugar states have operations
significantly delayed by the strike. The following is a table listing the
impact by the strike on the harvesting and production through the 10th
harvest week for Mexico's biggest sugar groups, which ended Jan. 13,
according to statistics by the Sugar Committee. Harvested output is in raw
cane. All figures are in metric tons.
Sugar Group Harvested Refined
2000/01 1999/00 2000/01 1999/00
-----------------------------------------------------------
AGA 119,215 301,270 7,313 26,123
BetaSanMiguel 731,304 867,430 67,299 83,146
Escorpion 676,045 1,470,925 60,088 149,118
GAM 287,614 664,065 25,837 59,525
Machado 940,560 1,050,232 97,068 112,633
Piasa 422,833 558,834 46,399 61,237
Saenz 603,198 630,814 52,428 65,106
Santos 425,392 724,966 42,400 72,955
Seoane 272,120 339,179 30,225 38,049
Zucarmex 963,130 993,392 103,685 109,234
Independent 218,269 337,808 21,318 34,435
-----------------------------------------------------------
Total* 5,976,644 8,332,895 581,949 845,739
*Figure for total national output, including figures from small
sugar groups not listed and detailed in this table.
|