The Vietnamese company AgriVMA delivered a shipment of 1,500 tons of rice of the CT16 variety to the Cuban agricultural company Los Palacios, reported the Vietnam News Agency. The delivery took place at the rice processing plant in the municipality of San Cristóbal, in the province of Artemisa.
The contract was signed by Nguyen Thi Thom, director of AgriVMA, and Michel Ballate Camejo, general director of Los Palacios, in the presence of the Vietnamese ambassador in Cuba, Le Quang Long, and representatives from the Cuban Ministry of Agriculture. This is the fourth rice shipment that AgriVMA has made to the island so far in 2026, bringing the total accumulated to 3,500 tons delivered under the bilateral agreement.
The president of AgriVMA, Nguyen Van Quang, announced that the company "plans to deliver another 500 tons of rice in December 2026" and that in the coming years it will continue to expand the cultivated areas and increase investments in the post-harvest stages.
Rice cooperation between the two countries officially began during the visit of Vietnamese President To Lam to Cuba in September 2024, when the agriculture ministries of both nations signed an agreement to expand cultivation to between 15,000 and 20,000 hectares, supported by a Vietnamese loan of 200 million dollars for the sector.
Since then, AgriVMA has expanded its planting area on the island from 1,000 to over 2,500 hectares in the provinces of Pinar del Río, Granma, Sancti Spíritus, and Villa Clara. The hybrid variety CT16 cultivated by the company achieves yields of over seven tons of paddy rice per hectare, more than triple the Cuban national average of 2.12 tons per hectare recorded in 2025. The company also installed the first rice processing plant with Vietnamese technology in the country, located in San Cristóbal.
The delivery arrives at a time when the price of rice in Cuba continues to rise. Following the removal of the cap of 155 Cuban pesos (CUP) per pound through Decree 156/2026, published in the Official Gazette in July, the grain is being sold in the informal market between 390 and 500 CUP per pound in most provinces.
Due to rising prices, many Cuban families have started replacing rice with cassava —which is around 70 CUP per pound—, sweet potato, plantain, malanga, and pumpkin. Flour, another common substitute, has also continued to rise in price and is selling for between 300 and 500 CUP per pound this month, according to citizen testimonies.
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