U.S. firms sign Cuban trade contracts

CNN
November 21, 2001

U.S. firms sign Cuban trade contracts

                 HAVANA, Cuba (Reuters) -- Three U.S. agricultural companies have become
                 the first American firms in four decades to sign trade agreements with Cuba
                 to supply about $20 million of foodstuffs in the wake of Hurricane Michelle, a
                 business source said on Wednesday.

                 Representatives of Archer Daniels Midland Company, Cargill and Riceland Foods,
                 were in Havana on Tuesday to sign the agreements with Cuban state company
                 Alimport to provide wheat, corn, soy and rice, said John Kavulich, president of the
                 New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council.

                 ADM signed the first contract for about 20,000 tons of wheat at $2.5 million,
                 added Kavulich, whose organization provides non-partisan commercial information
                 on Cuba.

"It's no surprise that ADM signed the first contract given their focus over the years
on opening up Cuban trade," he said in a telephone interview.

                 The representatives of the three firms, who were responding to an appeal from
                 Cuba to buy food products at cost to replenish stocks used after Hurricane
                 Michelle, were flying back to the United States on Wednesday.