199 Ingenio El Pilar El Pilar mill was established in December, 1975 in “La Esperanza”, San Andrés Villa Seca, Department of Retalhuleu. In 1983, it attained its first production of 46,000 MT of sugar; in the harvest between the years 95-96 it reached second place production nationwide. Today, it is producing 258,000 MT of sugar of which a portion is used for both the export and the domestic market. El Pilar produces standard white sugar, raw sugar and molasses. Plus, it generates electricity from sugar cane bagasse (bagasse is the dry pulpy fibrous matter that remains after sugar cane stalks are crushed to extract their juice). El Pilar provides over 4,500 direct jobs during harvest and more than a thousand direct jobs during no harvest.