And while all eyes are on Cayo for Monday - even more attention is reserved for the cane industry in the north.
The farmers stand to lose millions of dollars if the crop season doesn't start soon. That's including the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they've already lost due the month long delay.
It's the second year in a row that the season is starting late, and today, Ezequiel Cansino, the Chairman of the Committee of Management of the Cane Farmers Association, told us that the 1.475 million tonnes of sugar cane in the fields will definitely not be harvested this season, which means that the farmers will lose money on their investment:
Ezequiel Cansino - Chairman, COM of BSCFA
"As from the beginning we did the estimation and we need about 208 days to mill all that estimated production and up to now we have lost let's say 30 days. In fact before the start of December, we already knew that production we would not be able to harvest and now with this delay there are much more production that we will not be able to harvest this year."
Daniel Ortiz
"Sir, is that something that is lamentable to the farmers and to the BSCFA?"
Ezequiel Cansino - Chairman, COM of BSCFA
"In figures of dollars I cannot say until at the end of the crop. It is very lamentable because we don't have any funds to compensate this losses to the cane farmers."
Cansino's San Estevan branch is one of the largest and stands to lose the most form a late season.
The small upside to the delay is that the rains of November and December has decreased the cane quality. Because it is staying in the field longer, the cane gets a chance to dry out, which means that they are finally delivered, the sucrose content will be higher.
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