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FROM
CUBA
Consumers
unhappy about egg price rise in Cuba
HAVANA, September 22 (www.cubanet.org) - A new
government measure set the price of eggs imported
from the U. S. at two pesos each throughout the
island, provoking grumbling in the provinces,
where eggs usually sold for less than in Havana.
The measure only pertains to the eggs sold outside
the government rationing system, which allows
consumers to buy eight eggs in Havana and six
in the provinces, per person per months, at 15
cents each. Consumers often complain that there
aren't enough eggs to supply the quota minimums.
Recently, a radio station in Ciego de Ávila,
Radio Surco, dedicated a 20-minute segment to
the egg problem, in an apparent effort to allay
the population's unhappines. The program, which
also aired calls from neighboring provinces Sancti
Spíritus, Camagüey and Villa Clara,
took in the complaints of the callers, but in
the end, concluded that the measure was an order
and that it had to be carried out.
"People are upset about the rise in prices.
Especially when the government says that the economy
is recovering and that our province has been declared
one of the foremost egg producers in the country.
We still can't afford to fry an egg, since in
addition to the egg, we have to buy the oil to
fry it at the dollar stores, and also buy the
fuel oil, charcoal, or wood, to cook it,"
said Bernardo Díaz, from Ciego de Ávila.
Eggs are one of the few sources of protein available
to Cubans.
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