CUBA (15 February)
Harvesting of the 2002/03 second season maize crop is about to start while that of the paddy crop (planted from April through August) has been completed. A satisfactory maize output is anticipated. Production of paddy in 2002, by contrast, is provisionally estimated at a below-average 281 000 tonnes, close to the poor output collected in the previous year. Rice imports in 2003 are forecast to remain at the same relatively high level of 480 000 tonnes imported in 2002.
Prospects for the 2003 sugar cane crop, the main agricultural export, are uncertain. Harvest is underway following some delays in the start of the harvest, caused mainly by the lack of machinery parts, fuel, repairs to the infrastructure, etc. Thus the indications are that output could be much lower than the planned 3.6 million tonnes of raw sugar, similar to the 2002 crop. Last year’s crop was one of the poorest in the past 50 years. The country’s recovery from the economic crisis in the early 1990s faltered in 2002, when foreign exchange earners such as tourism and remittances from abroad dramatically dropped and the severe impact of two strong hurricanes in late September was felt.