Cuban Trade Mission Visits USA
WASHINGTON - Apr 18/16 - SNS -- State officials and grain buyers are visiting to the United States this week to meet with peoiple involved with coarse grains and co-products.
Cuba has purchased corn from the United States since the early 2000s, with market share varying widely from as high as 100% to just 15% more recently. In addition, the country has also purchased U.S. distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS).
However, sales have been stymied in both Cuba and the rest of the region by competition from other sources and the ongoing embargo. If Cuba purchased all of its imported corn from the United States, it would be the 10th largest overseas market for the product.
"We are continuing to assess how to best serve Cuba's needs as its economy shifts and restrictions begin to fall," said U.S. Grains Council Chairman Alan Tiemann, who farms in Nebraska. "The team's visits this week will help establish relationships and provide them basic information about the U.S. grain buying system that is essential to enhance U.S. competitiveness."
Numerous Meetings Lined Up
While in the Washington area, the team members will visit with staff at the Council, U.S. grower organizations, agribusinesses and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS). They will also take a farm tour on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
The team will then travel to St. Louis and New Orleans to meet with additional agriculture organizations and companies and see the breadth and depth of the U.S. marketing, handling, transportation and export systems.
Following the Obama Administration's announcement in late 2014 that it would seek to dismantle the 50-year-old restrictions on how companies and individuals interact with Cuba, the Council has reassessed the Cuban market and is working to help mitigate ongoing barriers to grain sales there.
This week's team is a direct outgrowth of that work, which revealed that critical staff in Cuba's food importer, Alimport, had changed over time and that officials want more information about U.S. grain production, management, buying and exports.
"While the politics with financing and ending the embargo must be dealt with by the U.S. Congress, we are closely monitoring this market and committed to helping our Cuban partners develop the expertise and connections that will lead to future sales," Tiemann said.
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