Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland Co. was waiting for final approval from the
                 U.S. Commerce Department to transport the corn, having already received approval
                 to sell it, the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council reported.

                 "The shipment will consist of 24,000 metric tons of corn from farms located in
                 Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin," the
                 organization's members-only weekly publication, Economic Eye on Cuba, said on
                 Monday.

                 A copy of the publication seen by Reuters said Archer Daniels Midland was
                 deliberately including corn from various states "to reinforce the significance of the
                 first shipment."

                 ADM spokeswoman Karla Miller confirmed the company hoped to ship soon.

                 "We are waiting for all the paperwork to be completed by various government
                 departments. We signed a number of contracts with the Cubans for delivery in
                 December and ho pe to fulfill those contracts," she said in a telephone interview.
                 "We are close."

                 Devastated by Hurricane Michelle in early November, Cuba reached out to the
                 United States for food, signing contracts last month to buy around $30 million
                 worth of American wheat, corn, soybeans, rice, frozen chicken, and other
                 products in the first commercial sale of U.S. food to Havana in four decades.

                 Grain industry giants ADM and Cargill Inc. were among a number of companies
                 which signed contracts with Cuban state-run food importer Alimport.

                 The U.S. slapped an embargo on trade with Cuba soon after President Fidel Castro
                 swept into power in 1959 and installed a communist government. But last fall, the
                 U.S. Congress enacted legislation that eased some restrictions to allow cash sales of
                 food and medicine to the island.

                 ADM has contracted the Singapore-registered and Mexican-owned bulk carrier
                 M.V. Ikan Mazatlan for the first U.S. shipment, which will be loaded at a company
                 facility in Ama, Louisiana, the U.S.-Cuba trade council said, adding that loading
                 would take 15 hours, with the ship expected in Havana four days after departure.

                 The M.V. Ikan Mazatlan was expected to be the first of more than a dozen vessels
                 that will make the trip in the coming weeks.

                 Florida-based Crowley Maritime Corp. reported it had signed a contract with Cuba
                 to begin transporting U.S. poultry in December to the island.

                 "We are hopeful that these initial, direct shipments of poultry from the United States
                 to Cuba will result in ongoing direct vessel service for licensed cargo," Crowley
                 said.

                 The commercial transactions under way are unprecedented in four decades of
                 hostile relations between Cuba and the United States, which have no formal
                 diplomatic ties.

                 Havana and Washington have stressed, however, that the sales are exceptional
                 because of the hurricane damage.

                 "The United States will allow the sales of food and medicines as permitted by U.S.
                 laws. The embargo is still in place," acting U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lino
                 Gutierrez said in Miami earlier this month.

                 For their part, various Cuban officials have said the purchases are due to Hurricane
                 Michelle and they have no plans to continue buying American until they can do so
                 on a credit basis and earn dollars by selling their goods to the United States.

                    Copyright 2001 Reuters.