Due to the impact of the tropical storms Iota and Eta, businessmen of the sector estimate that for the 2020-2021 harvest about 13% of the sugar cane production will be lost.
According to a report by the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (Amah), the rains caused by tropical storm Eta damaged approximately 23,874 hectares of cane, and in the case of Iota, approximately 19,414 hectares were affected.
Entrepreneurs in the sector reported that for the 2017-2018 harvest the volume produced amounted to 11.6 million hundredweight, 2% more than what was registered in the previous harvest.
Representatives from the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (Apah) announced that between the harvests of 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, the country reported an increase of 200,000 hundredweight in the volume of production, going from 11.4 million to 11.6 million.
Business leaders from the sector declared that in the 2017/2018 harvest the country registered production of 1.1 million tons, a figure that has never been reached before.
At the beginning of the harvest, the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (APAH) estimated that during the cycle 1.20 million tons would be produced, however at the end of the harvest they only reached 1.16 million tons.
Due to climate effects, the Honduran union expects that around 40,000 less tons of sugar will be produced in the current season.
On top of the climate situation is also the fact that the price of sugar has been falling, partly explained by the abundant crops reported in places such as India.The result of this is that production costs in countries such as Honduras are reducing competitiveness of the crop.
The union of producers has estimated crop production for 2016/17 at 12 million hundredweight, slightly above the results seen in the previous season.
Of the total that the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (APAH) estimates will be produced, 70% will go to the local market, and the remaining 30% will be for export, from which it is expected that $100 million will be earned.
Due to the effects of drought, the sugar guild has projected that it will not reach the production target of 12 million hundredweight scheduled for the 2015-16 harvest.
Added to adverse climate effects which will result in a reduction of at least 700 million hundredweight in the harvest that has just begun, are the unfavorable international prices of grain, which have maintained a downward trend in recent months.
Subsidies on exports to India and improvement in the competitiveness of Brazilian sugar, caused by devaluation of the real, explain part of the decline in international coffee prices.
The union of sugar producers in Honduras states that the country currently loses between $25 and $40 per hundredweight exported to the international market, on average a total of $40 million.
The Sugar Producers Association estimates that total production next year will be reduced by 600 million hundredweight, due to the negative effects of drought.
Despite this estimate, domestic demand next year is covered, as a total harvest of 12 million hundredweight is projected.
Carlos Melara, executive director of the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (Apah) told Laprensa.hn that "...
Industrialists are warning that the 2013-2014 harvest losses could exceed current projections of 600 million hundredweight.
The reduction in purchase volume in the north of the country has caused alarm in the industry which believes that the product is coming in through the border with Guatemala and being sold mainly in Cortés and Santa Barbara.
Representatives from the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (Apah) reported in an article on Laprensa.hn that "... 'There is a direct relationship between smuggling and sales by the central market of Honduran sugar. During the last months we saw a significant decrease in the area, which alerted us that something irregular was going on, this is a mass consumption product and one of the most indispensable in the basket, so there should not be a decrease in demand. '"
A possible revision of Decree 261-2005, which regulates the production, purchase and sale of sugarcane, has alarmed the Association of Sugar Producers.
Independent producers called for the revision of the standard, arguing that they are not paid "fairly per ton of cane compared to the Central American market prices. "
Latribuna.hn reports that executive director of the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (APAH), Carlos Melara , noted that "... some cane growers are demanding prices which do not match the level of efficiency in the handling of their crops, which would threaten those who are doing well because they are being efficient. "
A new biofuels law pending publication includes price incentives and blending gasoline with 5% ethanol.
In addition to price parity with traditional gasoline, the amendment to the Law for Biofuel Production and Consumption includes other incentives related to the availability of specific land for cultivation of oil palm and sugarcane.
"The reform includes incentives for the production of ethanol, biodiesel and alternative energy.
Africa and Taiwan are two of the new destinations where 200,000 quintals from the 2014 harvest will be exported.
The eight sugar mills operating in Honduras expect to export 200,000 of the 12 million quintals to be produced during the 2013-14 harvest which began in November. "This figure is in addition to the quota exported to the European Union as part of the Association Agreement with the bloc, which came into force in August," noted an article in Laprensa.hn.
Honduran Sugar producers are confident that the harvest which will start at the end of November will exceed 11 million quintals of sugar produced in 2012.
This was explained Carlos Melara, executive director of the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras (APAH).
"... The estimated production, more than 12 million quintals of sugar, is due to the industry continuing to grow steadily and having achieved greater ability to export to new markets," noted an article in Proceso.hn.
The proceeds of the 2012-13 harvest, which ends next June, will exceed that of the previous harvest by a million quintals.
Carlos Melara, executive director of the Association of Sugar Producers in Honduras (APAH), has guaranteed domestic consumption of seven million quintals, which represents 70% of the production.
"We are close to the estimate of 11.3 million bushels, a million more in relation to the previous harvest," said Melara.
The Honduras sugar guild expects that the delay in the approval of the Association Agreement with the European Union will affect exports.
Carlos Melara, president of the Association of Sugar Producers of Honduras said that sugar exports will only start in June.
"Although there were projections for exports of 19,464 metric tons, only half of that will be will possible because they only have six months in which to negotiate," noted an article in Latribuna.hn.