January 18, 2006

Cuba to buy up to 700,000 tonnes of US Corn
 

Cuba signed a memorandum of understanding with the US Grains Council on Jan 17, agreeing to buy up to 700,000 tonnes of corn this year.

Council chairman Davis Anderson said that his association agreed to work with US growers in the council to come up with individual deals to sell corn to Cuba's food import company Alimport.

If completed, those deals could mean more than US$100 million in sales benefiting growers in states including North Dakota, Ohio, Illinois and Iowa, Anderson said.

While encouraging its members to engage in trade with Cuba, the council does not take a political stance on US-Cuba relations, Anderson said.

"We are respectful of both positions on trade and travel," Anderson said of the Cuban and US governments. "We look forward to the day that those issues are resolved."

Most US trade with Cuba is prohibited under a 45-year-old US embargo designed to undermine Fidel Castro's government.

Under an exception to those sanctions created by a 2000 US law, US food and other agricultural products may be sold directly to Cuba on a cash basis.

Alimport chairman Pedro Alvarez said Cuba has contracted to buy US$1.5 billion in US food since Castro's government began taking advantage of the US law in late 2001.

Headquartered in Washington DC, the private, non-profit US Grains Council develops export markets for US barley, corn, grain sorghum and related products.