Imports of American chicken grow in Cuba

Thechicken import American grew up in Cuba in the midst of the acute economic, political and food crisis the Cuban people are suffering.

The EconomistPedro Monreal showed the statistics of theUnited States Department of Agriculture, USDA, which indicate a growth in chicken exports in October 2021 to Cuba, compared to September.

"US statistics for October 2021 indicate aincrease of 17.7%in tons ofchicken meat exported by the United States to Cuba, in relation to the previous month. Measured in dollars, 2 million more were sold to Cuba than in October," the economist said on his Twitter profile.

In the same thread of information, Monreal pointed out that the most recent official Cuban statistics on this topic show that chicken meat is positioned asfirst food imported by Cuba.

"The most recent official Cuban statistics indicate that, with a value of 319.2 million USD annually, poultry meat is, by a considerable margin, the first food imported by Cuba and is a product for which there is very little capacity to supply of national origin," indicated the economist.

Thirdly, Monreal pointed out areduction in the value of the kilogram of American chicken exported to Cuba. This occurred in October 2021 ($0.93) compared to $0.98 in September of the same year.

Monreal highlights that between "January and October 2021, the United States exported almost228 million USD of chicken meat To Cuba".

Chicken has become practically the only meat that Cubans consume because the price of others is prohibitive when they are on the market.

For example, thePork Meat, a product preferred by Cubans and traditionally consumed at Christmas and New Year's parties, okay240 pesos per pound in Havana andIts price is expected to continue increasing towards the end of 2021.

In SeptemberUS chicken imports to Cuba fell sharply. 32.1% fewer tons arrived than in August. This left an impact on the Cuban market, with long lines to try to compare chicken throughout the country.

Monreal at that time pointed out that the drop in chicken imports was in line with the decline in imports that has occurred since April and that had a small rebound in August.

At the beginning of September it was reported that theCuban government boosted its food purchases in the United States, increasing 88 percent of commercial operations compared to 2020 when commercial relations between both countries decreased.

Between January and July, Cuba paid $178.7 million dollars to acquire frozen chicken in the United States. Statistics from the US-Cuba Economic and Trade Council (USTEC) show that 90 percent of Alimport's purchases in the US market were chicken meat and other purchases were corn, coffee, lumber and pet food.