By Tim Johnson. tjohnson@krwashington.com.
The
Miami Herald, March 5, 2002.
WASHINGTON -- Cuba is throwing more business to U.S. farmers eager to
encourage efforts on Capitol Hill to loosen further the trade embargo of the
island.
The government of President Fidel Castro is ordering $17 million in grain
from Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), a Decatur, Ill.-based grain conglomerate.
The purchase comes on top of $36 million Cuba spent last year for U.S. farm
goods.
Other deals worth $14 million to $15 million more are in the works, industry
sources say.
The first round of Cuban purchases, which followed last year's severe
hurricane damage to the island's agriculture belt, were the first commercial
transactions with U.S. companies since 1963. Cuba asserted that the ''one-time''
cash deals would never be repeated.
''This is one of a string of many purchases the Cubans will likely buy,''
said Audrae Erickson, international trade policy specialist with the American
Farm Bureau Federation.
Cuba wants to expand U.S. imports to include nonfat dry milk and fresh
apples, most likely from Washington state, which has yet to benefit from the
sales, Erickson said.
The new purchases mark a shift by Castro, who at one point last year pledged
not to buy ''one grain of rice'' from U.S. companies unless Washington extended
credit for the purchases. After Hurricane Michelle steamrolled across Cuba in
November, Cuba portrayed its purchases as part of an unusual humanitarian relief
effort.
RESTRICTIONS STAND
A sweeping U.S. trade embargo remains in effect against Cuba, although
Congress approved medical sales to the island in 1998 and agricultural sales in
late 2000, as long as no U.S. entity is involved in granting credit. Most U.S.
travel to the island is also banned.
''It's a dramatic change of policy,'' said Dennis K. Hays, executive vice
president of the Cuban American National Foundation, an anti-Castro group. 'To
go from 'not a single grain of rice,' to a 'one-time' purchase, to new cash
purchases, means the well has run dry everywhere else.''
Cuba's economy is stagnant, hurt by a fall-off in tourism and a decline in
the price of nickel, a major Cuban export. Other agricultural markets are
increasingly irked by Cuba's arrears. The nation owes hundreds of millions of
dollars to creditors for agricultural imports.
At least eight U.S. companies will take part in the second round of
purchases by Cuba, said John Kavulich, president of the U.S.-Cuba Trade and
Economic Council, a New York-based group. Of the eight companies, only ADM has
announced publicly to date.
''There is no humanitarian component [to the new sales],'' Kavulich said.
Archer Daniels says it will sell 135,000 metric tons of corn, wheat, rice
and soybeans to the island to be shipped by June.
''We were somewhat surprised that this is a larger deal than the first
time,'' said Karla Miller, vice president of public affairs for Archer Daniels.
''We're looking forward to more deals in the future.'' ADM was one of 13 U.S.
companies that took part in the post-Hurricane Michelle sales to the island,
realizing about $14 million in sales.
Miller said Cuban authorities have told her company that they are pleased
with moves on Capitol Hill to relax restrictions that bar U.S. companies from
offering credit to Cuba for future purchases.
''They've told us that one good turn deserves another,'' she said.
ISLAND VISITS
A steady trickle of U.S. legislators and their staff members have flown to
Havana so far this year, a sign of persistent interest in the troubled U.S.-Cuba
relationship.
Pro-embargo forces lament that the White House has been largely silent on
efforts by farm state legislators to loosen rules on U.S. sales of foodstuffs to
Cuba.
A Senate version of a key pending farm bill allows U.S. companies to offer
credit to Cuba for agricultural sales, while a House version does not. A
conference committee of House and Senate legislators will soon hash out the
differences.
FARM INTERESTS
''If you see the list of Senate conferees, except for (North Carolina
Republican Sen. Jesse) Helms, they are all from farm states,'' Hays said.
Cuba imports about $600 million of foodstuffs a year, a relatively small
market. But U.S. agri-industry has been hurt by worldwide recession and is eager
to get a foothold in any market possible, especially one as close as Cuba.
''Hopefully, Cuba is turning into a long-term customer,'' said Bob Cummings,
vice president of international policy for the USA Rice Federation.
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