Publisher's Synopsis
What is the role of sugar in today's Cuba? Why cannot Cuba meet its production goals, despite substantial investment in new equipment and mechanizations? How does Cuba benefit from the patronage of the Soviet Union, and how long can this relationship endure? Why is Cuba planning to expand its sugar output by 20 percent in the next decade when other sugar-producing countries are attempting to avoid overdependence on one crop?;Sugar, the backbone of Cuban economic life for centuries, continues to dominate the economy of socialist Cuba. After attempts at diversification following the Revolution, the Cuban regime rehabilitated the sugar industry in 1965. Cuba is again vulnerable to swings in world market prices and to the dangers of overdependence on one agricultural product.;After reviewing the history of Cuban economic planning since the Revolution, Jorge Perez-Lopez covers in detail various micro aspects of today's sugar industry; cultivation, mechanization, energy and transportation, refining and the manufacture of sugar derivatives, and production costs. He then focuses on foreign trade, notably, dependence on trade with the Soviet Union and Cuba's participation in international sugar agreements and assistance to Third World sugar producing countries.
