US food sales to Cuba hit new peak in 2007
Sunday, 17 February 2008
HAVANA, Feb 16 (Reuters): American producers sold $437.5 million in food to Cuba in 2007, a new peak in value despite Cuban complaints that the Bush administration is hindering trade.
The main items were corn, chicken, wheat, soybean products and rice, according to the New York-based US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which monitors trade with Cuba.
Sales of agricultural products to Cuba, allowed under an exception to the US embargo placed on Fidel Castro's leftist government back in 1962, had fallen to $340.4 million in 2006 in a two-year decline.
Cuba's food import agency Alimport blamed restrictions introduced by the Bush administration, such as demanding Cuban payment prior to shipment, for causing US sales to fall from a 2004 peak.
Alimport president Pedro Alvarez said the increased value of Cuban purchases last year reflect higher world food prices, not greater volume, and said trade with United States is flat.
Still, the fact is that the United States has remained Cuba's main supplier of food and farm products, with sales totaling $1.99 billion since they began in 2001.
The main items were corn, chicken, wheat, soybean products and rice, according to the New York-based US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which monitors trade with Cuba.
Sales of agricultural products to Cuba, allowed under an exception to the US embargo placed on Fidel Castro's leftist government back in 1962, had fallen to $340.4 million in 2006 in a two-year decline.
Cuba's food import agency Alimport blamed restrictions introduced by the Bush administration, such as demanding Cuban payment prior to shipment, for causing US sales to fall from a 2004 peak.
Alimport president Pedro Alvarez said the increased value of Cuban purchases last year reflect higher world food prices, not greater volume, and said trade with United States is flat.
Still, the fact is that the United States has remained Cuba's main supplier of food and farm products, with sales totaling $1.99 billion since they began in 2001.