Lobster production for export is one of the few things that seems to be going from strength to strength in Cuba. In Niquero, a municipality in Granma, the 44-ton plan planned for July was exceeded in just nine days, by achieving 52 tons of the crustacean.
According to bill Jorge Rosa Acuña, plant manager of the InduNiq company, most of the success can be attributed to the start-up of new technology: a new freezing tunnel and a plate freezer that have accelerated the capacity to store the product.
“Previously, it took us 24 hours to freeze a production, today we only need eight. The plate freezer allows us to keep other flake productions at the same time”
“Previously, it took us 24 hours to freeze a production, today we only need eight. The plate freezer allows us to carry other flake productions at the same time,” the official explains to the local newspaper The Demajagua.
In a context of constant blackouts and power limitations for businesses, the Government seems determined to keep the lobster industry running fast, that in 2020 –the last year for which data is available– represented the income of 40.5 million dollars. The Island was then the fifth largest exporter of the product worldwide, only behind Brazil, Nicaragua, Bahamas and Honduras.
One of the company’s workers explained to the provincial newspaper that lobster processing is very delicate due to its demands for foreign sales. In Cuba, the product has practically disappeared from all markets.
“There are several essential requirements to meet the customer’s demands, it is an export product that goes to the world market: Asia, Africa and Europe. Therefore, it includes review processes, quality control,” he said.
It is the second Cuban company in just three months that accounts for its success in this area, one of the main ones along with rum, tobacco, nickel and shrimp. Last May, the Pinar del Rio fishing company La Coloma presented in the official press its lobster hatchery project for export.
“It is a project that, rather than increasing the amount of product to be exported, raises the economic values of the company and is one more assortment and one more customer that we are going to reach,” said Ray Leonar Sánchez Ramírez, director of the company.
The investment in the ponds, which preserve the crustacean for up to 72 hours to be transferred abroad, is two million pesos, but it would allow the production of two tons of lobsters per day.
The lobster catching season runs from the beginning of June to the end of January. After the end of the season, a closed period of at least four months is established to facilitate the recovery of the species before the start of the new season.
Cubans have not seen lobsters since, after the 11J demonstrations, the Government transferred some products to the markets that had not been seen for a long time to appease the spirits of the population
The Cubans have not seen locusts since, after the 11J demonstrations, the Government transferred to the markets some products that had not been seen for a long time to placate the spirits of the population. Among them were the beef hash and the renowned crustacean, which exceeded 200 pesos without being of excellent quality.
In the best-known gastronomic establishments in Havana, a plate of Cuban lobster can easily exceed 700 pesos. This is the case of the state-owned Bodeguita del Medio, where 280 grams are priced at 705 CUP or the private bar-café Mercy, which serves it for 990.
On the black market, prices can be more affordable. In the case of fishing towns such as Batabanó or Caibarién they can even be less than 100 pesos, but on average, lobster on the left can be obtained for 400 pesos a pound.
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