• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 03 / 02 / 2011

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2/3/2011: The Cuban media has reported that their coffee industry is recovering after a tropical storm damaged crops in October last year.

The country has announced a target of 6,700 tons of semi-processed coffee beans for 2011, having already harvested almost 2,700 tons in Santiago de Cuba – the country’s most productive coffee-producing area.

The socialist nation – which loves its coffee as much as it does its cigars – suffered a major decline in its coffee output after the communist takeover nationalised industry in the late 1950s. Production underwent a slight recovery in the late ‘70s/early ’80s but suffered again with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990.

Cuban coffee remains highly sought after on the world market, but today only makes up about 1% of Cuba’s total exports, compared to 3.9% in 1956, when its exports exceeded 20,000 tons.

Today Cuba relies heavily on imports for its domestic consumption, with locally grown beans being rationed to citizens at the rate of 2 ounces per adult every fortnight.

Cuban leader Raul Castro (brother of Fidel) hopes a boost in consumption might bring an end to rationing.

“If we want to drink pure coffee without rations, the only solution is to produce it in Cuba," he said.

Source: www.gilkatho.com.au/Cuban-coffee-recovers-after-calamity