US-Cuba trade declines as Castro warms to Hugo Chavez

The US exported US$528 million in trade value to Cuba in 2009, a drop from the $710 million shipped in 2008 and if the trend continues this year, it will be the third consecutive year in which Cuba's trade with the United States has fallen.

Fewer than 20 per cent of containers expected to leave Houston for Cuba had set sail, according to CMA CGM strategic accounts director George Armaos, reported Sherman's Texas Tribune, and reprinted in the New York Times.

Though the French shipping giant planned to move 200 - 300 FEU by October, so far only 30 or 40 have gone - the result, Mr Armaos said, of Cuba's insistence on engaging only with like-minded governments, that is, Venezuela, China, Brazil and Vietnam.

"Venezuela may be influencing the Cubans not to buy too much from the US producers," he said. "We spoke with some shippers here in the US, and they do have some orders, but finances are coming very, very slow."

Countries like Venezuela, China, Brazil and Vietnam offer more trade incentives to the Cuban government than the private sector in the United States does," said non-profit US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council analyst John Kavulich.

The Washington-based council, which deals directly with Havana, said Cuba is "focusing on countries that will give them substantial government credits that they know they won't have to pay back. There is no incentive for the government of Raul Castro to seek re-engagement with the United States".
(Source:www.schednet.com)