Cuba Policy
Foundation Press Release
For Immediate
Release – Monday, September
23, 2002 Contact: Brian Alexander
(202) 321-CUBA (2822)
HAVANA TRADE FAIR TO SET U.S. RECORD
Agricultural Exposition Will Be Largest Single Presence of
American Businesses in Cuba in Over Four Decades
Washington, D.C., September 23, 2002 – This
week, over 240 American companies, representing 31 states plus Puerto Rico, and
over 700 U.S. business people will gather in Havana, Cuba for the “U.S. Food
& Agribusiness Exhibition.” The
historic event will be the largest single gathering of American companies and
business people in Cuba since the United States imposed an economic embargo on
Cuba over four decades ago.
The trade fair, running from September 23-30,
will provide American farm companies and food producers a unique opportunity to
offer their goods to Cuban purchasers.
It is expected to lead to several million dollars in sales of American
food products to Cuba. According to
Ambassador Sally Grooms Cowal, president of Cuba Policy Foundation, “While
the embargo debate rages in Washington, the nature of U.S.-Cuba relations is
subtly, but significantly shifting as Cuba develops as an important export
market for U.S. foods and farm goods.
The unprecedented gathering of American companies in Havana this week
should send a signal to U.S. lawmakers on the benefits to the United States of
engaging Cuba.”
Interestingly, despite its large pro-embargo
Cuban-American population, Florida will be the state with the largest number
of companies attending the Havana trade show, with 31 Florida businesses
expected to participate, along with at least seven state organizations. Other states
with the largest business representation are Illinois, Texas, Minnesota,
Georgia and North Dakota. State and
local officials will also be attendance, including the Lt. Governor of North
Dakota, the agriculture commissioners of Kentucky and North Carolina, the Iowa
secretary of agriculture, and Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, whose planned
trip to Cuba garnered controversy when Florida Governor Jeb Bush publicly
criticized it.
Americans are permitted to sell farm products to
Cuba under a U.S. law passed in 2000, which made an exception to the otherwise
comprehensive U.S. economic embargo.
The first sales of U.S. farm products to Cuba occurred in late
2001. In 2002, over $107 million in
U.S. farm goods have been sold to Cuba, and it is expected that several tens of
millions of dollars of more such sales will occur this year. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture
statistics, projected 2002 U.S. farm sales to Cuba will make Cuba the 45th
largest export market for U.S. farm goods, up from 180th in the year
2000.
The potential for U.S. sales of farm goods to
Cuba, in the absence of the embargo, is over $1.2 billion, according to a 2001
study by Cuba Policy Foundation. “While
the farm sales to Cuba in 2002 have marked a dramatic jump in U.S.-Cuba
commercial relations, they mark only the tip of the iceberg. The wide interest by American companies in
farm and food sales to Cuba is recognition that there are significant gains to
be had in the Cuban market,” said Ambassador Cowal.
For
more information, please contact Cuba Policy Foundation.
###