Mauritius cut its 2017 sugar production forecast by 2.7 percent, blaming above average rainfall for a poor harvest. It now expects sugar production of 350,000 tonnes this year, down from a previous forecast of 360,000 tonnes. Rainfall in the month of May was well above average representing 272 percent of the long-term average while the island received only 90 percent of the normal sunshine. Mauritius produced 386,277 tonnes of sugar in 2016. Sugar contributes about 1 percent of the Indian Ocean island’s $13 billion gross domestic product.