Cuba: State pork production falls and street prices rise

This week, government media outlets admitted the enormous drop in state pork production in Cuba and the gradual increase in its price on the street, in the so-called "black market" or private market, in many MSMEs.

According to the official newspaper GranmaIn recent months, the production of pork and other pork products on the island has deteriorated to the point where it can almost be classified as extinct or nonexistent on the table of ordinary Cubans. At least, the state-owned production and the production that would be sold at more affordable prices in state-run agricultural markets and fairs.

The price of pork has risen in just a few years, when production was stable, from 16 Cuban pesos per pound to nearly XNUMX Cuban pesos today, according to various offers in buying and selling groups on social media such as Facebook.

In 2018, Cuba had a record production of 200 tons and even avoided costly imports, supplying the domestic market and various hotels in its tourist destinations. But currently, practically no hotels exist.

Without feed, there is no paradise for pork in Cuba: the price is rising.

«Last year only just over 9 tons of pork," They said from the official media, a figure that they described as "insignificant and far from the demand and the real needs of the country."

This, according to the Communist Party newspaper, directly impacts "the high price of this product, which in some places exceeds one thousand pesos per pound." As if that were not enough, faced with the question of how to increase the current pork production, the specialists agreed on something logical: "without feed it is impossible to revive that production."

A local producer, Orelvis Peñate, explained that with root vegetables and palm kernels, two or three pigs can be raised in a house, but without feed, intensive farming as it was done in the past cannot exist.

Meanwhile, pig buying and selling groups on the island are promoting themselves with offers like these: "Boneless pork leg for $790 per pound and boneless pork loin for $810 per pound."

"This doesn't just happen with pork, it happens with absolutely everything. In Cuba, there are only a couple of dying old men left who are left with a shave in this world. And the few young people who remain are seeking relief through other means because raising pigs means no one can get away," said one Cuban about pork in Cuba, whose price is rising every now and then.