Havana/The chronic lack of fuel on the Island cost the Las Tunas Agricultural Company (Agroint), in the first quarter of this year, an alarming drop in its exports. Of the amount of charcoal that they planned to sell to Europe in that period, the state company barely fulfilled 25% of its plan, about 400 tons.
The directors of the state they explained to Newspaper 26 that the “tense energy situation” caused the 80 containers with their “star product” that they were going to export to be reduced to just 20. The ruling, said the director of exports and imports of Agroint, Argel Pupo, comes at the worst of times: marabou charcoal had achieved “a growing demand from international customers” and there were orders from six foreign companies for next week.
Pupo guaranteed that the problem is not Agroint, which has “enough raw materials on Las Tunas soil” to respond to demand, but rather the lack of fuel to move the product. Based in eight municipalities in Las Tunas, the company produces and exports first-class, second-grade and mixed marabou charcoal, but also sweet potato, donkey plantain, cassava, coconut and avocado.
According to Pupo, “alternatives for the transportation” of these products were sought, but the manager did not define which ones, or how much money Agroint earned.
According to Pupo, “alternatives for the transportation” of these products were sought, but the manager did not define which ones, or how much money Agroint earned with the operation.
The Cuban News Agency public Last March, the medium-sized company La Güireña, in Güira de Melena, Artemisa, had exported 400 tons of charcoal so far this year, the same amount as Agroint, raising $136,000, which offers an idea of what the state-owned company in Las Tunas could be earning.
Last September, the Spanish company Ibecosol, dedicated to the sale of charcoal –especially to the hotel sector– established a commercial alliance with the Frutas Selectas Marketing Company, in Cienfuegos. Fernando Gutiérrez, president of the Spanish company, said then that the contract allowed Cuba to make its way into a “very competitive market,” “by having a high-quality product, and in high demand in European markets.”
Ibecosol has three charcoal brands, of which one – Caribbean – promotes Cuban marabou charcoal. In Spain, a 15 kilogram bag of this product sells for about 22 euros.
Companies such as Granmax and Horquita, from Granma and Cienfuegos, respectively, sent In 2021, 100% of its productions will go abroad. At the end of 2022, the European Commission reported that it received wood, charcoal and cork from Cuba valued at 39 million euros, a growth of 39.2% compared to the 28 million in 2021.
Companies such as Granmax and Horquita, from Granma and Cienfuegos, respectively, sent 100% of their productions abroad in 2021
Official figures show that the Island produces about 40,000 tons of charcoal annually, although there is no updated data on how much these productions have fallen in recent years due to the energy crisis.
The latest numbers published in the Statistical Yearbook of Cuba 2022 from the National Office of Statistics and Information reveal that that year Las Tunas produced 2,538 tons of charcoal, a resounding drop compared to the 9,645 achieved a year before and much more when compared to the 16,100 in 2020.
On a national scale, the results are no better. In 2022, Cuba produced 39,400 tons of charcoal, less than half than two years before, when it achieved 75,600, in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic.
Data from the Economic Complexity Observatory they point outFurthermore, in 2022 Cuba exported 41,000,000 dollars in charcoal, which positioned the Island in 15th place as a world exporter of that product. Also in that year, charcoal was the eighth most traded economic item internationally in the country. Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Türkiye are the main destinations for Cuban coal.
Marabou charcoal, a plant that has invaded extensive land on the Island like a pest, is also sold to national customers who can buy through foreign currency portals that offer food and other basic merchandise. For a price that ranges between one and two dollars per kilogramis marketed on these digital sites that many emigrants use to supply their relatives on the Island.
