And finally from Ortega for tonight's news, we asked the Vice Chairman about his impressions of how the 2013-2014 sugar season has gone, given that the early forecasts were cause for concern that both the farmers and the factory owners were at risk of losing.
Here's what he told us:
Alfredo Ortega - Vice-Chairman, COM, BSCFA
"Up to June 29, we had delivered 1,149,779 tonnes of cane, which has produced 117,871 tonnes of sugar. We have exceeded 1.078 million that we delivered last year, and yes, we have seen that our forecast in regards to the start of crop that we had estimated as an availability of production is between 1.2 and 1.25 in the fields. We're seeing the amount will be available for this year. But, we're also seeing that we won't be able to deliver all that amount of cane that is left in the field at this point in time."
Daniel Ortiz
"How much do you estimate will remain in the fields?"
Alfredo Ortega
"If weather permits, as is, and we finish on Tuesday with weather like this, I believe that we will be staying with an amount of about 50,000 tonnes."
As noted in the interview, up to last week Sunday, almost 1.15 million tonnes of cane has been milled to produce 117 thousand tonnes of sugar, a mere 3 thousand away from the target for this year's expected quota.
