|
CUBA
NEWS
Yahoo!
Cuban sugar plantations turn into farmland;
Cuba talks of buying U.S. sugar
HAVANA, 7 (AP) - Cuba, once one of the
world's largest sugar exporters, now might
import the commodity from the United States
as it slowly turns its old plantations into
farmland.
The Communist Party daily Granma reported
Friday that Sugar Minister Ulises Rosales
del Toro said that about one million hectares
of sugar cane land are being turned over
to production of food or to forestry.
The report comes at the same time that
Cuba's state import company, Alimport, said
it is considering an offer by PS International,
an agricultural trading company based in
Chapel Hill, N.C., to sell U.S. sugar.
"If U.S. producers want to sell us
sugar and the price is right, why can't
we buy it?" Alimport director Pedro
Alvarez said this week.
He confirmed on Friday that talks were
still underway.
Wayne Carrick, an international trader
for PS International who was attending the
Havana International Trade Fair here, said
Friday that negotiations were still going
on for the possible sale of 5,000 to 15,000
tonnes of sugar. He said a deal might be
reached within a few weeks.
Sugar was long a dominant force in the
Cuban economy and an obsession among Cuban
officials both before and after the 1959
revolution led by Fidel Castro.
One of the first punitive measures imposed
by the United States after the revolution
was to cut its imports.
While the Helms-Burton law makes most trade
with Cuba illegal, reform provisions do
permit licensed American companies to export
food and agricultural products to the Communist
country.
Production of six million to seven million
tonnes of sugar year was once common in
Cuba, but harvests have been declining over
the past decade and the collapse of the
Soviet Union took away the most lucrative
market.
Cuba May Import Sugar From the U.S.
By John Rice, Associated
Press Writer .
HAVANA, Cuba, 7 - Cuba, once one of the
world's largest sugar exporters, now might
import the commodity from the United States
as it slowly turns its old plantations into
farmland.
The Communist Party daily Granma reported
Friday that Sugar Minister Ulises Rosales
del Toro said that nearly 2.5 million acres
of sugar cane land are being turned over
to production of food or to forestry.
The report comes at the same time that
Cuba's state import company, Alimport, said
it is considering an offer by PS International,
an agricultural trading company based in
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to sell U.S.
sugar.
"If U.S. producers want to sell us
sugar and the price is right, why can't
we buy it?" Alimport director Pedro
Alvarez said this week.
He confirmed on Friday that talks were
still underway.
Wayne Carrick, an international trader
for PS International who was attending the
Havana International Trade Fair here, said
Friday that negotiations were still going
on for the possible sale of 5,000 to 15,000
tons of sugar. He said a deal might be reached
within a few weeks.
Sugar was long a dominant force in the
Cuban economy and an obsession among Cuban
officials both before and after the 1959
revolution led by Fidel Castro (news - web
sites).
One of the first punitive measures imposed
by the United States after the revolution
was to cut its imports.
Production of 6 million to 7 million tons
a year was common. But harvests have been
declining over the past decade and the collapse
of the Soviet Union took away the most lucrative
market.
|
