An agricultural fair in Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, once again highlighted the high cost of food in Cuba: a pound of pork was sold for 850 Cuban pesos, a price that, although it is one of the lowest recorded in the country in 2026, remains out of reach for a large part of the population.
A recorded video from the aforementioned fair shows the price list of a meat stall where a pound of pork was offered at 850 Cuban pesos (CUP), the ram at 700 CUP, the liver at 600 CUP, the lung at 300 CUP, the head at 250 CUP, and the feet at 150 CUP.
The images, posted on Facebook, accumulated nearly 449,000 views and became a new testament to the rising prices that make meat practically unattainable for most Cubans.
The price recorded in Trinidad is, paradoxically, one of the lowest in the country so far in 2026. In Havana, the pound of pork has fluctuated between 1,000 and 1,500 CUP this year.
In May, the Cuban Institute of Economic and Political Freedom (ICLEP) recorded sales at 900 CUP per pound in private markets, and in June, five pounds of ribs reached a price of 5,400 CUP —that is, 1,080 CUP per pound.
The contrast with the income of the population is striking. The official average salary between January and April 2026 was 7,074 CUP per month, equivalent to between 13 and 17 dollars at the informal exchange rate, according to data from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI). The minimum wage, which was set at 3,210 CUP starting July 1st, barely reaches about 4.65 dollars.
With those numbers, a single pound of pork priced at 850 CUP represents more than 10% of the average monthly salary of a state worker.
The inflation in Cuba is out of control: according to the ONEI, the group of food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an annual variation of 22.79% in June 2026, and pork was one of the items with the highest impact, with a monthly increase of 6.76% just in that month.
The segmentation of the Cuban market further exacerbates the situation. While at fairs like the one in Trinidad, pork is around 850 CUP per pound, a dollar store in the Comodoro hotel in Havana offered pork chops in July for nearly 130 dollars each—a price well beyond the reach of practically the entire population.
This price increase is not recent. In 2018, a pound of pork cost about fifty Cuban pesos; by 2022 it rose to 340 CUP; in 2023 it reached between 500 and 580 CUP; and by 2024, it was already surpassing 1,000 CUP in the capital.
The crisis is a direct consequence of decades of failed economic management, the shortage of supplies for pig farming, and the rapid depreciation of the Cuban peso.
In response to social pressure, the government of Matanzas announced on August 10 reference prices for basic food items such as chicken, ground beef, rice, eggs, beans, and oil. However, pork was not included in the price caps, leaving the issue that the Trinidad cartel summarizes with brutal clarity unanswered.
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