ZAFRA-TUCUMÁN – TELAM Agency
The manager of the Institute for the Promotion of Sugar and Alcohol of Tucumán (Ipaat), Jorge Etchandy, highlighted that despite the drought, the harvest in the province is “progressing positively,” and so far the mills have more than 75% of cane. ground.
“Today we are at a percentage greater than 75% of ground cane, that is, 740,000 tons of sugar and 154,000 cubic meters of alcohol were produced. If we compare it with previous years we realize that we are doing well, they are very good numbers,” Etchandy highlighted.
The Ipaat manager explained that the harvest, which this year would be ending at the end of October, “began with uncertainty since we knew that its development was going to be related to the impact of the drought,” however, he highlighted that “the best of “This harvest is that the drought did not impact as we expected and the rain came at the right time.”
“It is being a positive year, close to what 2022 was or even better, because the planted and harvested area increased in relation to other years, although it was not a large percentage,” he added.
“We are working in a coordinated manner, with different technical organizations, we believe that El Niño (climate phenomenon) will not have a negative impact and a larger sugarcane surface is expected for 2024,” said Etchandy.
He also referred to biofuels and stated: “unfortunately we are not meeting the production objective, this has to do with national-level policies that did not accompany its growth.”
In that sense, he maintained that “the price of biofuels does not help to increase production either, and since the price of sugar is high, it causes the mills to produce alcohol at a loss,” and he considered that for the activity “to function There should be clear policies.”
“The price has to accompany production, not only to support the industry, but because of the social impact of climate change, taking into account that biofuels are friendly, renewable and sustainable with the environment,” he concluded.
Source: Ambito
