U.S. Farmers relish trade fair.

Farmers brought California vegetables, North Carolina turkeys and Arkansas rice to Cuba's annual trade fair, showing that Americans are still hungry for the communist country's market despite U.S. rules that make trade difficult, reports AP (Oct. 31, 2005):

"We have a larger American

participation this year despite the restrictions," Alvarez said as he toured the Expo Cuba fairgrounds on Havana's outskirts. "But the (Bush) administration has created serious obstacles for small and medium-sized companies". For the past four years, Cuba has contracted to buy more than US$1.4 billion in American farm goods, including shipping and hefty bank fees to send payments through third nations, Alvarez said;

Nevertheless, he said sales have remained relatively stagnant since last year because of recent U.S. regulations that require Cuba to pay for the goods in full before they leave American ports. Cuba paid US$474 million to buy American farm goods last year, including transportation and banking costs, vs. US$409 million for the first 10 months of 2005, Alvarez said;

Marvin Leherer of the USA Rice Federation, which markets and promotes U.S. rice domestically and abroad, said American rice sales to Cuba this year have been down a bit, "mostly because of the problems with the terms of payment" created by U.S. rules. "It's definitely made things harder," Leherer said as he set up the Rice Federation's booth at the fair. But rice farmers are determined to keep selling to Cuba because it is a key future market, Leherer added. "This is a huge market for rice. We have to be here," he said. "Cuba imports as much or more than Mexico with just one-tenth of the people";

Other American companies with booths at the fair included agribusiness giants Cargill Inc. and Archer Daniels Midland, as well as poultry producer Gold Kist Holdings Inc. and Del Monte Foods Co., a producer of canned and packaged fruits, vegetables and tuna fish. Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman was due in Havana to attend the fair and shore up contracts totaling US$30 million that he set up on a trip in August. Of that, only US$2.5 million in great northern bean sales has been completed. The beans are to be shipped to Cuba in November. Cuba is also expected to finalize purchase of 300 cows from the northeastern U.S., primarily Vermont. Other countries represented at the fair include Canada, France, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, China and Vietnam. Details: http://www.cepec.cu/ingles/fihav3.htm. And: www.cpalco.com