Over time against and 80,000 bags of 50 kg less in production, The Valdez Sugar Company began harvesting on June 26 in Milagro, a week later than expected, due to heavy rains.

Machines were fired up and trucks full of cane began to take over highways and back roads in an attempt to catch up. But this Monday, July 3, at the beginning of the second week, the rains changed this frantic movement through fields full of mud, cloudy skies and paralyzed machinery. The storm did not let up in the harvest this time either.

El Niño has not yet officially reached Ecuador, but it is already taking its toll on various production sectors

As of Monday morning, only a few trucks had taken away what little could be cut on Sunday night, before rains again paralyzed work on the mill’s 8,000 hectares of oil fields, which are also being brought in from an additional 14,000 hectares that are being harvested. sugar cane growers Fernando Gutiérrez, director of agriculture at Compañía Azucarera Valdez.

For managers, the start of the harvest was good, with a stabilization process that gradually increased milling until the rains returned. Gutiérrez recalled that harvest is traditionally the season in which sugarcane is harvested from June to December.

Milagro, GUAYAS.- The small cane that could be removed from the crop this Monday, July 3, was the one that could be cut in the night of the previous Sunday before the heavy rains. Photo: Jose Beltran

On Sunday “we had heavy rains and had to stop the harvest, we are waiting to see how the weather will behave, we are going to trials to determine when we will start, this obviously changes our production plans. The harvest usually starts and does not stop until the last cane is cut, but we will certainly suffer these inconveniences and stop as these climate changes occur,” Gutiérrez said., who reminded that the last time a similar situation happened in the harvest season between 1997 and 1998 with the El Niño phenomenon, but clarified that the current climate problems are the result of other atmospheric phenomena.

“At the moment we are still not receiving the effects of the El Niño phenomenon that is forming in the central part of the Pacific Ocean, it has already formed, but the effects have not yet reached the shores of Ecuador, we are suffering from other climate phenomena,” said Gutiérrez, as he watched Valdez workers remove mud from caterpillar of harvesting machines.

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However, he recognized that El Niño will arrive and will also affect the process, which is why the mill has two strategies: he tries to harvest the cane as quickly as possible, his plans are to finish harvesting by November or early December, to avoid the effects of climate phenomena ; and another strategy, which is already in place, is the use of crawler harvesters and self-turning tractors with high-flotation tires, which allow working with wet soil conditions, but currently the company does not have all the machines that allow for the supply of the plant.

“We have a limited vehicle fleet and our idea is to transform the machines into crawlers and get high-flotation tractors, but these are significant investments to be able to maintain the harvest,” acknowledged the agricultural director of Valdez, who assured that until now the factor has affected everything minds.

In addition to Valdez, there are five other factories operating in Ecuador: Monterrey Azucarera Lojana, Agroazúcar (La Troncal), Del Norte, San Juan and San Carlos.

Regarding the impact on production, Gutiérrez lamented that the low availability of cane is reflected in the supply in the domestic market. “Until we can cut the cane and contribute to the factory, we will not be able to have product available for sale,” admitted the CEO, who hopes the 22,000 hectares that will supply Valdez with 1.4 million tons of cane, which would represent about 2 .3 million bags of sugar of 50 kilograms.

10,000 tons of sugar were imported from Colombia and Peru to supply the market

In the meantime, one of the solutions that the factory had to apply due to the lack of production is to import sugar in order to supply the domestic market and avoid a shortage, he indicated. Mario Goncalves, commercial director of Valdez. Until the date 10,000 tons were imported.

“We were forced to import the product precisely because of the delay we had at the beginning of the harvest, our idea is to cut as much cane as possible so that we can have our own production, we were forced to import this to supply the local market, we brought sugar from Peru, from the Andean community , we also brought from Colombia,” said Goncalves and assured that this is temporary until the harvest returns to normal, although he admitted that these interruptions due to the rain will force them to continue importing.

He explained that importing products from other markets affects the company’s costs, although he assured that they are always looking for a fair price for consumers, not a price increase.

The rains affect the sugar sector and delay the start of the harvest

Meanwhile, Goncalves warned that, according to current projections, there will be a short harvest of at most three and a half months, due to the possible arrival of El Niño next November, which will again force new imports to hold the market. “We don’t want to import, what we want is to have our own production,” he said. These harvest disruptions could also affect the supply of ethanol for ecopain gasoline, he predicts.

Valdez is one of the plants that supply ethanol to Petroecuador for the production of ecopais gasoline. “We are still adhering to the contract with them, reviewing the monthly deliveries, but it is a warning of what can happen,” Goncalves said. Valdez supplies 29 million liters of ethanol to the state-owned company.

In the meantime, Gutiérrez hopes that “the skies will open” and harvesting can resume, as one day less production represents 9,000 tons less cane in the plant; and that the most complicated scenario for the company and the sector does not happen: that El Niño arrives with heavy rains and they are left with sugarcane that cannot be harvested.