Tracy Participating in Cuba Trade Conference
Published: April 23, 2009
U.S. Wheat Associates (USW) President Alan Tracy will participate in a panel discussion April 29, 2009, at the “Conference on Improving Agricultural Trade with Cuba” sponsored by the Center for International Policy. The conference takes place at the Holeman Lounge at The National Press Club in Washington, DC, from 8:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. For more information about the conference and the Center for International Policy, visit http://ciponline.org/cuba/index.htm on the World Wide Web.
The conference will address a range of topics related to the growing call for ending the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo of Cuba. While U.S. industries may export food, agricultural commodities, and medical supplies to Cuba, unusual restrictions on such trade represent lost potential for U.S. farmers. Tracy will participate in a Commodity Panel moderated by Dr. Barry Flinchbaugh, former Chairman of the Commission on 21st Century Production Agriculture and a highly respected, now retired professor of agricultural policy at Kansas State University. Tracy joins Betsy Ward, President and CEO of USA Rice Federation and Rosemarie Watkins, Director, Public Policy, at the American Farm Bureau Federation as a panel participant.
"Cuba has 11 million citizens that consume close to one million metric tons of wheat every year," Tracy says. "The trade restrictions force Cuba to pay cash up front, instead of using standard letters of credit, to purchase U.S. milling wheat and other commodities. That is why over the past ten years, Cuba has imported a lot of wheat from the European Union, Canada, and Argentina, even though freight rates from the U.S. would cost the Cuban people less money. We believe our market share could grow from 50 percent to nearly 80 percent in Cuba, as it is in other Caribbean neighbor nations. That change could increase the return to the U.S. wheat industry by up to $100 million per year."
Tracy is encouraged by the Obama administration's recent changes allowing unrestricted travel and remittances for Cuban Americans.
"That is certainly a good step toward normalizing U.S.-Cuba trade relations," he says. "USW will continue to push for change and we look forward to continuing to work with the administration on this market access issue of critical importance to U.S. wheat growers, the people of Cuba, and the global economy."
U.S. Wheat Associates is the industry’s market development organization working in 90 countries on behalf of America's wheat producers. The activities of U.S. Wheat Associates are made possible by producer checkoff dollars managed by 18 state wheat commissions and through cost-share funding provided by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service. For more information, visit www.uswheat.org or contact your state wheat commission.
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