Cuban rum makers fret as another dismal sugar harvest looms

[El Presidente]

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/cuban-rum-makers-fret-another-dismal-sugar-harvest-looms-2023-11-29/

Cuban rum makers fret as another dismal sugar harvest looms

By Marc Frank

November 29, 202310:27 PM GMT+10Updated 7 hours ago

 

HAVANA, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Producers of Cuba's famous rum are feeling the pinch with local sugar output forecast to remain at record lows this season amid a grueling economic crisis which has dramatically reduced supplies of fertiliser, fuel and other inputs needed to grow cane.

The first of 25 state-owned sugar mills is set to crank up its machinery in the coming days with plans published in seven of 13 sugar-producing provinces pointing to similar output to last season’s 350,000 metric tons of raw sugar, down from 1.3 million in 2019.

Cuba produced 8 million metric tons of raw sugar in 1989, before the collapse of former benefactor the Soviet Union led to a steady decline.

"In recent years sugarcane production has decreased and we have to reverse this, because we not only lose sugar but also all its derivatives, including rum,” Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdes Mesa said at the close of the last harvest in June.

Christian Barre, director of Havana Club International, a state venture with French firm Pernod Ricard (PERP.PA), recently told the press that the company was in constant contact with providers and had insured supplies of cane-based alcohol for the moment.

While Havana Club is the best known Cuban brand, other smaller ventures, such as Ron Santiago, a joint venture with Diageo PLC (DGE.L) and Ron Vigía with a private investor also export.

One European businessman with intimate knowledge of the sector said rum makers are competing for the domestic cane-based alcohol with pharmaceutical and other industries that have the option of importing non-domestic alcohol.

“One can feel the pinch and there is not always the availability there was before,” he said.

Cuba has historically consumed up to 700,000 metric tons of sugar annually and exported the rest.

Reporting by Marc Frank; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama

 

[ATGroom]

Two years ago you could find a full line of Santiago de Cuba and Havana Club in every Dan Murphy's (Australia's major liquor store chain) in the country.

Was looking for some Cuban rum a couple of weeks ago, and they are both totally unavailable as far as I can tell. Took considerable searching to eventually find a bottle of Havana Club 7 at a specialty store, which I think is probably due to them moving less stock volume than Dans more than it is to them having any special access to supply.

[El Presidente]

1 hour ago, ATGroom said:

Two years ago you could find a full line of Santiago de Cuba and Havana Club in every Dan Murphy's (Australia's major liquor store chain) in the country.

Was looking for some Cuban rum a couple of weeks ago, and they are both totally unavailable as far as I can tell. Took considerable searching to eventually find a bottle of Havana Club 7 at a specialty store, which I think is probably due to them moving less stock volume than Dans more than it is to them having any special access to supply.

From coffee to rum, you would be completely peeved to have done all the distribution work only to see it all fall apart due to lack of supply. 

[SCgarman]

I'm curious. Is there something Cuban rum offers versus rum from say Barbados or the several other rum producing countries? Or is it the placebo effect being made in Cuba?

[TacoSauce]

1 hour ago, SCgarman said:

I'm curious. Is there something Cuban rum offers versus rum from say Barbados or the several other rum producing countries? Or is it the placebo effect being made in Cuba?

I have a feeling the answer can be found by contemplating the analogous question with "rum" swapped out with "cigars":

"I'm curious. Is there something Cuban cigars offer versus cigars from say Nicaragua or the several other cigar producing countries?"

The answer is likely "yes," but maybe we don't understand the specifics of why.

 

1 hour ago, TacoSauce said:

The answer is likely "yes," but maybe we don't understand the specifics of why.

You're an idiot! Of course we understand the specifics of why. It is the Cuban soil. It is the most special-est in the world! Everyone knows that!

 

57 minutes ago, TacoSauce said:

You're an idiot! Of course we understand the specifics of why. It is the Cuban soil. It is the most special-est in the world! Everyone knows that!

Who you calling an idiot?!?!?!?! You're the real idiot! And you have a stupid face!!!!!

[GoodStix]

1 hour ago, SCgarman said:

Is there something Cuban rum offers versus rum from say Barbados or the several other rum producing countries?

Kinda the reverse.  Unlike Cuban cigars, Bajan, Jamaican, and Guyanese rums (and some others) are usually held in higher regard by enthusiasts/reviewers than Cuban rums.  More flavour, particularly the pot still rums.  Cuban rums are often light in comparison.

[Ken Gargett]

we need to remember that a shortage of sugar this year really does not hit for a couple of years. it takes a few years for the product to hit the shelves. well, one would hope. the article talks of how much was around in 2019. the shortages we should be concerned about are coming over the next few years. 

[1daniel]

On 11/30/2023 at 3:07 PM, SCgarman said:

I'm curious. Is there something Cuban rum offers versus rum from say Barbados or the several other rum producing countries? Or is it the placebo effect being made in Cuba?

There is English, French, and Spanish style rums. Each has its own distillation process with types of stills and how the sugar is prepared for distillation. My personal favorite is high ester Jamaican pot still aged rum. The only Spanish rum that I like is that smoked Cuban rum that the Cuban government forgot about that they had stored in Ireland. Stuff is really, really good, especially in a Cuba libre.

[Corylax18]

On 11/30/2023 at 4:00 PM, Ken Gargett said:

we need to remember that a shortage of sugar this year really does not hit for a couple of years. it takes a few years for the product to hit the shelves. well, one would hope. the article talks of how much was around in 2019. the shortages we should be concerned about are coming over the next few years. 

Great point Ken. Just like cigars, there is a lag between harvesting the raw material and being able to sell the finished product. Cuba has been IMPORTING hundreds or thousands of tons of sugar since at least 2018. You see it in a lot of the fancier hotels and restaurants, its white, highly processed, beet sugar, mostly from France. The story was that they import this because its what higher end tourists expect, but it started seeping into the ration packets that regular citizens get. I really hope they aren't using that sugar to distill their rum.

I agree with the above statements saying that Cuban rum isn't the top of the heap. There are plenty of very good Rum's coming out of Cuba (I like Eminentes) but when you take the recent price hikes into account, there are much better options out there. 

[JohnnyO]

Bang for the buck, HC Seleccion de Maestros is a very good every day use rum. However, for $20 less Zacapa 23 can be bought here in the US and is superior to the HC. A lot of it is nostalgia and presentation. We like to have things we aren't supposed to have. John