June 5, 2007

US food companies sign US$150 million worth of contracts in Cuba

Some US$150 million worth of contracts are said to have been signed last week in the annual CUBA-US Agribusiness Trade Fair, billed as the largest meeting of the year between American business leaders and Cuban companies.

The three-day trade fair drew 114 companies from 25 states this year.

Pedro Alvarez, the head of Alimport, Cuba's food import company, said that the gathering should result in the signing of US$140 million to US$150 million in contracts for wheat, corn, beef, chicken, pork and other products from the US companies. An estimated US$118 million worth of contracts were said to have been signed in one day.

Commerce between our countries helps both Cuba and the United States, said Pedro Alvarez, Alimport's CEO.

The deals ensured that Cuba buys as much from US producers in 2007 as it did last year, when US$570 million was spent to buy American food and agricultural products.

Criticism of the trade embargo was also leveled against the US, which has imposed the ban since 1962. Current transactions between the two nations have to go through a third party and trade is restricted to food products. 

Due to pressure from American agribusinesses, the US government relaxed the embargo with a law passed by Congress in 2000 and signed by President Bill Clinton. The law allowed the sale of agricultural goods and medicine to Cuba for humanitarian reasons.

Congress has since tried to appeal for the law to be further relaxed four times, each time backing down after President George Bush threatened a veto.

Jim Sumner, president of the Atlanta-based US Poultry and Egg Export Council, promised to work toward 'normalized and open commercial relations' with Cuba.