Eastern Cuban province seeks consolidation in European market

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Nov 19 (ACN) The Baracoa Agroforestry and Coconut Enterprise (EACB by its Spanish acronym), the second export center of the province of Guantanamo, is working to ship 326 tons (ton) of cocoa to the European market during the rest of the year, after the delivery of the first 100 tons to Spain last September.

Ramon Capdesuñer Rosell, director of the EACB's Basic Business Unit (UEB) of Processing and Export, told Venceremos newspaper that this leading product of the Company is marketed abroad under the Aromas trademark, which ranks among the best in the world and with which chocolate is manufactured for a variety of elaborations.

He said that in addition to cocoa, 20 other products will soon be exported by the EACB, including coconut nuts, coconut oil, coconut husk fiber, particles used as substrate in organoponic crops, activated carbon in a local processing plant and the common vegetable charcoal.
Capdesuñer Rosell explained that after Alto Serra, with its coffee leadership, approved as the first exporting pole in the province, the EACB was certified as an exporting entity on March this year.

As a result of the initial operations, some 1,500 cocoa producers from Baracoa will receive directly, individually and proportionally to the quantity and quality of the product delivered, in freely convertible currency cards, 60 % of the value of the sale of the first 100 tons of cocoa exported, when the payment process is completed, as established in the commercialization policy, the director clarified.

The company is working on creating other brands to be assigned to the other specific exportable items, which will allow it to meet the prestige, quality and price requirements of each one separately in the market, he continued.

We also have the prospect of creating an international cooperation contract to plant 500 hectares of new cocoa, with financing for fertilizers and an irrigation system, to help increase current yields from 0.42 to two tons per hectare, according to the program, Capdesuñer Rosell concluded.