According to the Diario de Cuba portal, at the end of August, the export of food and agricultural products from the US to Cuba experienced an increase of 35.8%17.9% higher than the eighth month of 2022, placing the Island as the 52nd market for these sales in the northern country.
According to official figures from Washington and the report on the matter from the Cuba-US Economic and Trade Council, Those sales closed the season at $39,913,983more than 29,383,675 in August 2022 and 27,656,565 in the same month of 2021.
The number is higher than in recent months. In July these exports closed at 32,313,837 dollars, down from more than 37 million in June, according to data from the US Department of Agriculture.
Among the products included in the Cuban shopping basket, various non-food items reappear.such as compressors and immersion heaters, as well as $1.1 million in “cleaning preparations,” second-hand excavators and tractors, and auto parts.
Among the foods, as usual, a significant amount of chicken meat stands out, the main amount of import; Pork meat; rice; puddings; grapes; coffee; coffee extract; cookies; waffles and wafers; beer; Palm oil; ham; pasta; corn chips; yeast; carbonated soft drinks; salt and sugar.
As has become common in recent months, Havana does not buy health products and medicine.
On his part, Humanitarian donations reported to US authorities totaled $2,735,263.
According to the Cuba-US Economic and Trade Council, In the eight months ending in 2023, Cuban purchases of the US totaled 232,487,283 dollars35 million more than 197,037,244 in the same period in 2022.
In total, since Havana began to apply changes to the embargo laws implemented by the US, in December 2001, sales exceeded 7,136,213,649 dollars.
Although the Government and the official press are silent about it, The US is now the sixth country in the world with the highest number of Island exportsas revealed in the Cuban Statistical Yearbook for the year 2022, with figures made public by the state National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI).
According to the document, the northern neighbor exported products worth $391,296,000 to the Island in 2022, the highest number in six years.
In such figures, the US is placed above the countries of the Latin American region that have more political ties to Havana, such as Brazil (377,815,000 dollars in exports in 2022), Argentina (347,514,000 dollars) and Mexico (347,801,000) .
All exports are allowed, despite the embargo, under the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act (TSREEA) of 2000, passed by the George W. Bush Administration, to which Havana has resorted without stopping since the end of 2001.
However, the ruling leadership and its media continue to blame Washington’s embargo against Havana for the hardships suffered by Cubans.
