Cuba runs out of flour for basic bread production

Directors of the Ministry of the Food Industry (Minal) confirmed that "due to specific situations with planned shipments" from abroad, Cuba does not have wheat flour to guarantee bread for the "regulated family basket" until next March. Zaily Pérez Hernández, commercial director of the Cuban Milling Company, told the local press that “until the end of March the stability required to guarantee the quantities of flour will not be achieved” and warned that “in the coming days they will face severe effects.” The production and marketing of bread in Cuba is carried out by state companies through the Supply Book, a rationing system that at subsidized prices guarantees each family one fist-sized bread per person. This is what is called “normed family basket”. State companies participate in free sales, now with the announced shortage of flour, and private merchants who import on their own and sell the product at high prices, without being able to cover national consumption. “The food ...