Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"But that again is a technical decision, because there are many factors that play here. There's one, the weather. If we want to begin tomorrow, we can't, one, the weather. If the weather improves, we start to fix sugar roads."

"We cannot fix sugar roads. Sugar roads are in a total state of disarray. Culverts have been washed away, the roads are in a mess. So even if you want to begin the crop, you can begin the crop, but you can't transport cane freely."

"So the government has an obligation to fix these roads, but we have to be reasonable. It is raining. I can't fix the roads when it's raining. We want to do it. We have the budget for it, but we can't do it if it's raining."

"Then we have to look at, are the cane fields ready to be harvested? Can we get into the cane fields and out? It's all wet. Transporting sugar again in wet conditions is very expensive. The quality is poor."

"The cost of milling is expensive. Do we have to sugarcane that is ready to be harvested? So this is a technical decision that has to include all these factors before we decide to begin."

Hugo Patt
"For sure, we don't have the kinds of sugar roads that we need. And we have to look at generally the weather patterns. If we're having some heavy rains economically, it's not feasible for us to start. While there is a substantial amount of standover cane, we have to want to give that priority."

"But the conditions are not there. If during the month of November, we see a slowdown in terms of rainfall, then we can expect for there to be a smooth start in the December days that are planned for the opening of the sugar crop."

"But if the rain continues in the patterns that we have been experiencing, it is pretty much difficult to say that, look, we're going to start off December. More than likely, it might be towards the end of December and probably leading into the early, early, early days in January."