April 16, 2004

Cargill To Sell Corn, Wheat To Cuba

Cargill Americas Inc. has agreed to sell a total of 65,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat and corn to Cuba, a company spokeswoman said Thursday.

The business was conducted during a three-day event earlier this week in Cuba.

Hundreds of U.S. farm representatives gathered in Cuba April 13-16 to negotiate and sign contracts with Cuba's food-buying agency, Alimport. The talks were aimed at securing up to $100 million in total new food deals from the U.S., with the bulk of the deals expected to be concluded by late Thursday.

On Thursday, Cuba President Fidel Castro thanked the U.S. farm representatives for traveling to Cuba for the talks.

Cargill Americas Marketing Group Vice President James Bohlander said in a news release: "U.S. food sales have been expanding steadily since the initial shipment of food and agricultural products in December of 2001."

"Cargill's foods sales to Cuba have been completed without complication and we look forward to growing our commercial ties in Cuba," Bohlander said.

The new sales conducted by Cargill are for foods that will be delivered by Dec. 31, 2004, the news release said.

Most trade between the U.S. and Cuba is prohibited under American sanctions, but a 2000 U.S. law created an exception to the embargo, allowing for the direct, commercial sales of American farm goods to Cuba on a cash basis, the Associated Press reported.

As of early 2004, Cargill has sold more than 500,000 metric tons of U.S. food to Cuba, including wheat, turkey, corn, feed phosphate, soybeans, soybean oil, textured soy flour and soybean meal, the company news release said.