HAVANA -- Cuba expects this year's sugar harvest to be its worst since the communist revolution in 1959, as scant financing, severe storms and aggressive past harvests leaves the country with less cane this year.

The government's current forecast for the harvest is 3 million metric tons, a French official visiting Havana said Cuban officials told him, according to news services. That's less than the 4.25 million tons produced in 1997 and below the previous record low crop of 3.3 million tons produced in 1995.

Cuban officials, celebrating May Day on Friday, couldn't immediately be reached for comment. The Cuban Interests Section in Washington couldn't confirm the figure but said the country had been expecting a smaller harvest in 1998 than last year.

``It has been forecast as being smaller,'' said Luis Fernandez, a spokesman for the section that serves as Cuba's shadow embassy in the U.S.

The estimate didn't affect sugar prices, which reached a five-year low earlier this week on expectations for a second straight record crop in Brazil, the world's largest grower. Sugar for July delivery was little changed at 8.48 cents a pound Friday, up 0.02 cent on the Coffee, Sugar & Cocoa exchange in New York.

French news agency Agence France-Presse and Spanish agency EFE first reported the lower Cuban forecast late Thursday. They cited Jean-Pierre Desgeorges, vice president of the National Council of French Employers, who made the statements at a press conference to discuss a French trade mission in Havana.

Cuba's sugar production, once the island nation's biggest source of revenue, has plummeted during this decade because of inefficiency and a lack of financing that cut imports of fertilizers and other agricultural materials.

Cuba's 1995 sugar harvest was the lowest in more than 50 years. Although production in 1996 rose to 4.45 million metric tons and ignited hopes of future growth, the 1997 harvest came out smaller again.

The difficulties in the industry were serious enough that the government last year ousted sugar minister Nelson Torres and put General Ulises Rosales del Toro, the armed forces' joint chief of staff, in his place. Rosales del Toro this year so far has focused on cutting costs, increasing production and getting better financing.

Still, the 1998 harvest wasn't expected to be better than 1997's because Cuba decided to cut less cane than usual this year, allowing immature cane to grow and yield more in future harvests.

``It's a strategic issue and isn't a long-term problem,'' Fernandez said. ``They sacrificed a little quantity this year to have better quality in the future.''

The forecast got cut even further in the past few months as the island nation was pummeled by heavy rains and other severe storm weather from the El Niño weather phenomenon.