Better-than-expected harvest of 1.425 million tons of cane

Despite fears of a disastrous campaign, the 2023 sugar cane harvest has seen an increase in tonnage. However, the production lacks sugar content.

Bumper crop, but lower sugar content

Tuesday, December 19, 2023, marked the end of the 2023 sugar campaign in the southwest basin of Réunion. Cultivators made their last cane deliveries to the Gol factory. As for the Northeast Basin, the last deliveries will be completed on Friday, December 22 at noon. Florent Thibault, agricultural director of Tereos in La Réunion, was interviewed by JT de Réunion La 1ère on the evening of December 4 and expressed his satisfaction with the 2023 sugar campaign.

The harvest ended with 1.425 million tons of cane. This year’s climatic conditions, characterized by a warm but wet winter, favored higher cane yields. However, the lack of frost and snow reduced the sugar yield by 0.9 percentage points compared to normal levels.

Recovery plan for record volumes

Over the next few years, the sugar industry in La Réunion aims to produce 1.5 million tons, or even more than 1.7 million tons. In order to achieve this goal, Tereos’ agricultural director recalls the existence of the recovery plan launched on October 10. This initiative, developed in consultation with all the players in the sector, aims to increase sugarcane production on the island. In other words, the volume needed to balance the economy of the sugar and rum industries, as well as the production of renewable electricity from sugarcane bagasse.

This plan represents a total investment of 9.2 million EUR, of which 6 million will be mobilized by the sugar mills and 3.2 million by the interprofession. The strategy foresees the payment of 190 EUR to the producers per hectare cultivated. In addition, the planters will be able to dispose of the storage tanks necessary to ensure good technical implementation.