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Cuba To Buy Another $30M
In Food From Nebraska
CattleNetwork.com,
KS, April 19, 2006.
HAVANA (AP)--Cuba agreed Wednesday to buy
another $30 million in food from Nebraska,
strengthening trade relations with a U.S.
farm state already selling corn, wheat,
soybeans and other products to the communist-run
island.
Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and Agriculture
Director Greg Ibach led the trade delegation,
which included meat and other agriculture
producers on the four-day trip.
In August, Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman
visited Cuba and signed a separate deal
to export $30 million in agricultural products
in an 18-month period. Most of those deals
have since been completed, said Pedro Alvarez,
head of the Cuban food import firm Alimport.
"We've had a great commerce experience
with Nebraska and this shows the desire
of many (U.S.) states to work for free trade
with the United States," Alvarez told
The Associated Press at Havana's historic
Hotel Nacional during a breakfast hosted
by Farmland Foods Inc. that featuring Nebraska
pork and other meat products.
Sheehy said the new deal will include
the export of pork, cattle, poultry, wheat,
corn, soybeans, dry beans and dairy in the
next 18 months.
"Agriculture is the number one industry
in the state and Gov. Heineman saw an opportunity
in Cuba to expand our market," Sheehy
said.
A 45-year-old U.S. embargo against communist
Cuba severely limits travel and trade with
the island, but an exception created in
2000 allows food and agricultural products
to be sold directly to Cuba on a cash-only
basis.
For the past four years, Cuba has contracted
to buy more than $1.4 billion in U.S. farm
goods, including shipping and hefty bank
fees to send payments through third nations,
according to Alimport.
Source: Dow Jones Newswire
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