Don't expect immediate stock of Cuban products with loosened embargo

Don't expect immediate stock of Cuban products with loosened embargo

HAVANA -- Experts say the decision by the Obama administration to allow
Cuba's private businesses to sell goods to the United States won't mean
that Cuban products will start flowing here in large quantities.

For one thing, nearly all Cuban exports are produced and shipped by
state-controlled enterprises. And there's no indication Cuba's
government is ready to loosen controls and allow private businesses to
start trading with firms overseas.

A list published by the U.S. State Department today said Americans will
be allowed to import anything produced by Cuban entrepreneurs, with some
exceptions. Those exceptions include food and agricultural products,
alcohol and machinery.

The imports would have to be produced by a Cuban operating in one of the
dozens of categories of private business allowed by the Cuban
government. Most of the categories are for services like car maintenance
or watch repair, not potentially exportable goods.

What's more, virtually all Cuban exports are produced and shipped by
state-controlled enterprises and there is no indication that the
government is willing to loosen control and allow private businesses on
the island to start trading directly with firms overseas.

In short, no one should expect Cuban goods to start flowing to the U.S.
in large quantities anytime soon, said Pedro Freyre, head of
international practice at Florida-based law firm Akerman LLP.

However, the possibility of exporting Cuban goods to a massive market 90
miles away could inspire private businesses to begin developing products
designed for export to the U.S., he said.

"It sets up the mechanism. It allows things to happen," he said. "Now
folks have got to make things happen, which is an entirely different
matter."

Cuba began allowing widespread private enterprise in 2010 as economic
stagnation forced the state to weigh large-scale job cuts. The number of
people employed in private businesses grew to 483,396 this year and
appears to have stalled at roughly that number due to a lack of domestic
demand. More than a quarter of private jobs are in food sales,
transportation and housing rental.

A potential source of exports to the U.S. is the new category of
worker-owned cooperatives, which function in many ways like
entrepreneur-owned businesses but are more closely integrated with the
state bureaucracy and may find it easier to export than entirely private
enterprises.

Source: Don't expect immediate stock of Cuban products with loosened
embargo - CBS News -
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dont-expect-immediate-stock-of-cuban-products-with-loosened-embargo/