Soap is another basic product that is disappearing from Cuban stores. The few units available are sold on the black market at unaffordable prices for most people: more than 90 pesos for washing and 80 for personal use.
A neighbor of Luis spent two weeks asking him for help to get a bar. “He practically implored me to solve a soap for him, because he hasn’t bathed in 15 days,” says this resident of Central Havana.
The man is used to buying the product buying a large number of bars, because when it arrives at the freely convertible currency (MLC) stores “a long queue is assembled”. “In my house, the soap that they give for the book is not used, but there are people who have to bathe with it, it’s tremendously itchy,” says Luis.
The scarcity of the product is mainly due to its deficient production administered by the Government. The Base Business Unit (UEB) UEB Suchel Cetro, in Habana del Este, had in its plans the production of 13,383 tons of laundry soap for this year, but as of October it had only achieved 44.6% of the quota, with a little more than 5,978 tons.
Given the shortage of antiseptics, in Guantánamo, the company Labiofam has resorted to substitute materials to make soaps for human use and for pets
The same difficulties are present in the production of toilet soap: the company had a plan of 10,200 tons this year, of which it has only produced 4,970, 47% of the goal. “The main cause of this is the increase in the price of the raw materials necessary for this product,” Alexander Puig Varona, director of the UEB, excused himself. in a note in Cubadebate in which, according to the media, he sought to clarify readers’ doubts about the scarcity of the product.
Cuba imports most of the raw materials it needs, mainly base soap shavings, which since the confinement due to the pandemic has not been able to bring in the volumes required to boost manufacturing. The Cuban wood chip plant is not operating either, explained Puig Varona, because it is “impossible” to bring the tankers with grease.
Given the shortage of antiseptics, in Guantanamo, the company Labiofam has resorted to substitute materials to make soaps for human use and for pets. An example of this is the jatropha curcas, a plant imported from the Mexican state of Morelos, acquired with financing from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (Cosude).
With one liter of jatropha curcas oil, 418 units of 30 grams each were made, in the minimum format of “soap for hotels”. This production, which took 30 minutes, was intended for health and veterinary services, the company reported in Facebook on September 19.
The production also includes a batch of soap made from neem, a plant native to India with medicinal properties. For September, a production of 5,000 bags of 220 grams of soap was planned.
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