Cuba Imported Nine Times More Chicken Meat From the US in March Than the State Produced in 2022

The tons purchased in the first quarter of 2024 are double the total annual production of the Island

14ymedio, Madrid, 10 May 2024 — “The tons imported from the US in the first quarter of 2024 double the total annual production of chicken meat in Cuba.” This devastating phrase was posted by the economist Pedro Monreal this Thursday in his X account. The expert, who contributes monthly figures for the purchases of this bird’s meat by the State and the private sector, does not stop there and leaves another clarifying fact about the situation of food insecurity in Cuba. “The amount is almost nine times greater than the annual production of national poultry companies,” according to the most recent data, from 2022, he adds.

In fact, Cuba produced 37,200 tons of chicken meat throughout that year, half of the amount imported from the United States in the first three months of 2024. This March, 26,413 tons of the product arrived from the neighboring country, 62% more than in February, when the quantity was 16,244 tons. In January, 30,678 tons were purchased, the largest amount so far this year, placing the quarterly total at 73,335.

If we look only at the state sector, the situation is even worse. In 2022, the regime’s companies produced only 8,200 tons, a number – as the expert points out in his tweet – one-ninth of that imported until April 2024 to be marketed by both State entities and cooperatives or MSMEs. These numbers put the finishing touch to those that were known