Cuba Steps-Up Food Purchases from the USA

While it complains about unfair conditions, due to the embargo, the Cuban government prefers to buy food from US companies over other more friendly countries and allies.

By 14ymedio

HAVANA TIMES – The US continues to consolidate its position as the leading supplier of agricultural and food products to Cuba by registering a 144.2% growth in its sales in November compared to the same month of the previous year.

Chicken, soybeans, fruit, coffee, ketchup, fresh vegetables and pet food are among the products most purchased by the Island, according to the most recent report of the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

The amount went from US $11.3 million in November 2020 to $27.7 million November 2021, although when compared to $3 million in the same month in 2019, the growth is even more spectacular, 834%.

If the data of these same exports made during the first nine months of each year are compared, the growth was 85.4% from January to November 2021, when the US sold agricultural products and food to Cuba worth $276.7 million, compared to $149.2 million in the same period of the previous year.

According to the balance of the last 20 years, the US sold these same products to Cuba for a value of $6,57 billion dollars, an average of 329 million dollars a year.

The report notes that, like every month, the sale of food and agricultural products is authorized by the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA) of 2000 and that allows direct export to the Island from the US in certain conditions among which is the obligation to pay in cash and in advance.

From the Island it is argued that these sales do not deny the impact of the embargo, since they are carried out in “discriminatory conditions,” according to what the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bruno Rodríguez, said a few months ago.

“These are only unidirectional sales from the United States to Cuba, without the possibility of credit, through the obligation to pay in advance and in cash, and under licenses that the Treasury Department must approve, all of which is incompatible with international trade practices,” claimed.

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