Cuban Gov. Opens Mega Wholesale Store Selling in US Dollars
By Glenda Boza Ibarra (El Toque)
HAVANA TIMES – On May 6, the Tiendas Caribe chain, part of the GAESA military consortium, inaugurated a new wholesale establishment that functions with US dollars in the Mariel Special Development Zone located an hour’s drive west of Havana.
The store is intended to supply private small and medium businesses, cooperatives; self-employed workers; state enterprises; diplomatic missions; and foreign offices.
According to social media posts, the Caribe-Mariel wholesaler offers food, beverages, fresh and frozen produce, hardware, household appliances, personal hygiene products and cleaning supplies.
The inauguration announcement stated: “It’s designed to facilitate access to merchandise in high demand with competitive pricing and rapid service.”
In order to have access to the products offered, those interested must register at the Mariel business office, and demonstrate their license category: self-employed, cooperative, small business, organization, state company, etc. The aspiring customers then sign a sales contract, select their products, and return 48 hours later to pick them up.
Payment is due upon delivery, no commercial credit is available, and only dollars via debit cards or direct account transfers are excepted.
It’s noteworthy that the purchasing method is limited to national and international debit cards that link to hard currency accounts. In contrast, the private sector workers themselves aren’t allowed to charge for their services in dollars.
“The same thing happens with the population: they’re paid their wages in Cuban pesos yet they have to pay for food in dollars (at government stores). We’re not allowed to charge the people in dollars, but they’re allowed to sell to us in dollars. Only the government can do whatever they feel like,” one of the self-employed workers told El Toque.
Since the government change houses and banks do not sell dollars to private businesses or the population they have to buy them on the informal market at three times the official rate.
The establishment’s opening is framed within the context of the Cuban Interior Trade Ministry’s resolution #5/2024, which set new regulations for non-government wholesale and retail businesses.
The regulation forbids the private sector to engage in wholesale business, unless it’s their chief activity, and mandates them to do this only with the State. According to entrepreneurs and economists, these limitations hinder the autonomy and growth potential of private businesses.
However, on May 7, the date for implementation of the new rule, it was postponed in the case of the small and medium businesses and cooperatives, although the self-employed workers were ordered to end their wholesale activities and liquidate their inventories.
The announcement of the new government wholesale store declares that the Caribe-Mariel Supplier seeks to provide efficient and accessible solutions for companies, entrepreneurs and other forms of non-state management, by facilitating access to inputs and materials essential for their development.
Among the products on display were articles from the mixed [state and private] Suchel Camacho Company S.A., the Vietnamese Thai Binh Global Investment Corporation, and the Spanish Vima Foods.
It’s also possible they’ll offer meat products from the Mexican company Richmeat, which recently signed a trade contract with Tiendas Caribe for retail and wholesale sales.
Private company owners and economists alerted that the centralization of wholesale trade could cause shortages and increased prices in the retail markets, by affecting the continuity of the supply chain.
Since December 2024, when Resolution 56/2024 was made known, both consequences have been noted, with shortages of flour, cooking oil, rice and chicken, plus ongoing increases in the prices of these products.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.