By Andres R. Martinez Bloomberg November 30, 2007
Mexico's sugar-cane workers said they shut down all of the country's mills today, demanding an increase in prices from the mills ahead of the opening of the Mexican market to U.S. sugar on Jan. 1.
The workers took control of the mills at 5 a.m. today, Catarino Bastin, a spokesman for 106,000 sugar cane workers in 15 states, said today in a telephone interview from Mexico City. Farmers and workers are asking for a 6 percent increase in the price paid for the crop.
``The mills are intransigent,'' Bastin said. ``We are not going to stop until we get the price adjustment.''
Calls today and yesterday to the Sugar and Ethanol Chamber of Commerce, which represents the mills, weren't returned. The workers prevented any cane from being processed this morning.
Juan Cortina, president of the Sugar and Ethanol Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview with Mexico City-based Radio Formula today that workers blocked the mills.
Workers and farmers are concerned that the raw sweetener, which has fallen 28 percent at Mexico City's main market in the last year, will drop more on Jan. 1, when the North American Free Trade Agreement opens the Mexican market to U.S. sweetener.
Mills have been negotiating a price for the 2007-2008 crop for 11 weeks. Talks moderated by the federal government today have been unsuccessful, Bastin said.
Before today, Mexico's sugar cane farmers had blocked the delivery of 3 million metric tons of the crop to mills, said Carlos Blackaller Ayala, president of the National Sugar Cane Union, which represents cane farmers.
Mexico was the sixth-largest producer of sugar cane in 2005, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations.
Mexico produced 50.1 million metric tons of sugar cane last year, according to its National Statistical Agency. The country's mills produced about 5.1 million metric tons of sugar during that period.
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