Residents of Cojímar, in the Havana municipality of La Habana del Este, reported this Friday that resellers are hoarding nearly all the bread available at the state bakery La Aguja to sell it at significantly higher prices, leaving a large portion of the population unable to purchase it.
"Resellers hoard, in large quantities, almost all of the 100 peso bread to resell it at extremely high prices, leaving people unable to purchase it," denounced the theater director Hugo Vargas through his profile on Facebook.
According to Vargas, the phenomenon occurs "right in front of everyone in line," with no one intervening to stop it.
The complainant directly challenged the People's Power of Cojímar for their inaction regarding the situation: "The Cojímar Council is well, and you?", he wrote, which highlights the citizens' perception that local authorities are turning a blind eye.
The hoarding and reselling of bread are recurring phenomena in Havana, exacerbated by a structural crisis in the baking system that has deepened.
In early July, the Cuban Bread Company implemented price increases of up to 108% on its products without any public explanation or transition period: the 400-gram crusty bread went from 240 to 500 Cuban pesos, the 200-gram bread from 120 to 250 pesos, and the 500-gram sliced bread from 250 to 550 pesos.
The Municipal Assembly of the People's Power of Centro Habana officially announced the new prices with over a week's delay, by which time the increase had already been implemented in stores for days.
The rise in the price of bread in Havana has sparked a wave of public outrage, partly because the minimum wage of 3,210 pesos, effective from July 1, is only enough to buy about six 400-gram loaves of bread per month.
Retirees, with a minimum pension of 4,000 pesos, face an even more critical situation.
The scarcity that fuels reselling has deep roots, considering that in 2025, national bread production fell by 100,900 tons, and 17 companies in the sector closed, incurring losses of 364 million pesos.
In June, only one of the six wheat vessels contracted for the year had arrived in the country, while Cuba needs around 20,000 tons of flour monthly to ensure the provision of regulated bread.
The authorities have attempted to curb reselling through supply booklet controls, fines, and sales restrictions, but without sustained results.
In Villa Clara, the shortages have reached such an extent that since February, the regulated bread is only distributed to children under 13 and seniors over 65, while the weight of the bread has been reduced in several areas to as little as 40 grams.
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