Skip to main content

China-Cuba Agricultural Cooperation: Sovereignty & Dignity in the "Complex Circumstances"

China and Cuba have been conducting low-key agricultural exchanges. China has stepped up food aid to Cuba with modest amounts of rice shipped during 2026.

On May 25, Chinese Vice Minister of Agriculture Zhang Zhili met with his Cuban counterpart Terce González in Beijing to discuss agricultural assistance projects in rice cultivation, swine and poultry farming, corn production and "juncao" (a tall grass used for ecological control). The discussion highlighted a rice breeding project that is said to be helping Cuba in its food security capabilities. 

The Cuban vice minister praised China's agricultural and rural achievements, pledged his support for Chinese technical assistance projects in Cuba, and expressed hope that more Chinese companies would invest in Cuba. 

Several days earlier China's ambassador to Cuba attended a ceremony in Havana celebrating the arrival in Cuba of 15,000 tons of rice granted by China as food aid. China's ambassador explained that the food aid is a vital component of China's comprehensive assistance to Cuba, manifests the solidarity of the two nations standing together in mutual support amidst the "current complex circumstances." The ambassador expressed China's firm support for Cuba's national sovereignty and dignity. Cuba's deputy prime minister, ministers of foreign trade and domestic trade attended the ceremony. 

Chinese ambassador and Cuban officials celebrate arrival of Chinese food aid in Cuba

Chinese customs data show that China has stepped up its exports of rice to Cuba. There were exports of long grain rice in only 3 months of 2024 and 2025 (and none in the several years preceding), but Chinese rice exports to Cuba have been recorded in each of the first four months of 2026. The cumulative total for the first four months of 2026 is 55,200 metric tons of rice valued at $41.55 million. Rice is China's main agricultural export to Cuba. 


Technical assistance is the main component of the China-Cuba agricultural relationship. In January 2025 a Chinese expert team arrived in Cuba to participate in a Chinese emergency technical assistance project in Cuba. The project will provide technical support over a 3-year period in rice cultivation, egg production, and swine farming. Cuba's agricultural minister welcomed the team's help in overcoming the numerous difficulties and challenges facing its agricultural sector. 

In November 2025, China's Academy of Tropical Agriculture conducted a training course in Cuba on virus elimination, cost control, mechanization and processing of cassava, sweet potato, yam, ginger, and taro.

In December 2025, a Cuban communist party delegation visited Hunan Province in China where they gave an emotional tribute to communist leader Mao Zedong at his birthplace, visited an "intelligent rice breeding base," discussed hybrid rice breeding, and learned about institutional innovation and trade facilitation at Hunan's Pilot Free Trade Zone. 


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Xi Jinping's Doctoral Thesis

Xi Jinping is the vice president and presumed next president of China but little is known about him. In this post the dimsums blog offers its contribution to the genre of Xi Jinping-ology by conveying Xi's decade-old views on agricultural markets. Ten years ago Xi Jinping wrote a thesis, "Tentative Study of Agricultural Marketization" (中国农村市场化研究) for a Doctor of Law degree at Tsinghua University in Beijing, a top breeding-ground for Chinese officials. The dimsums blogger has spent several hours poring over the 200-plus page tome to see what it reveals about Dr. Xi. The thesis is remarkably close to what China has been doing lately in agricultural policy, suggesting that Xi (or the person who actually wrote the thesis) has a major say in policy or is at least in agreement with what's being done. There is nothing adventurous, controversial (or insightful) in the thesis. It seems to be the work of a wonkish technocrat who is not prone to talk out of turn or wander from...
15 comments
Read more

Divergence in U.S. & Chinese egg prices

High egg prices are a hot topic in the United States. China, in contrast, has a glut of eggs and depressed prices.  The March 14, 2025 USDA Agricultural Marketing Service weekly eggs market overview reported that U.S. egg prices continued declining during the second week of March as the supply situation improved. No significant highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks have occurred in March and U.S. egg demand is relatively light. The average U.S. wholesale price for Grade A large white eggs was $4.15 per dozen, down sharply from their February peak.  Until 2021, Chinese and U.S. wholesale egg prices had been roughly equal at about $1-to-$2 per dozen with no trend. U.S. prices fluctuated more than Chinese prices, so the U.S. price was sometimes higher, sometimes lower than the Chinese price after converting them to dollars per dozen.  Chinese prices converted using monthly exchange rate and assuming 0.6 kg per dozen. Sources: USDA and China Ministry of Agricult...
Post a Comment
Read more

China's 2024 Ag Imports Shrank in Value

China's agricultural imports declined 7.9 percent during 2024 to reach $215 billion, according to data posted on the customs administration website. The 2024 value was lower than each of the 3 preceding years. Agricultural exports were up 4.1 percent to reach $103 billion. Source: Data from China Customs Administration December reports. The top two agricultural import categories by value both declined. Soybeans ($52.75 billion in 2024) fell 10.9 percent, and meat ($23.38 billion) fell 15.1 percent. Cereal grain imports ($15 billion) were down 28 percent and fish & shellfish imports ($18.5 billion) were down 6.2 percent. Edible oils imports ($10.6 billion) were down 17.8 percent. Fruit, rubber, cotton and wool and beverage imports were up for the year. The decline in value of imports partly reflected a decline in prices. Customs reported that the volume of soybean imports for calendar year 2024 reached a record 105 million metric tons, up 5.6 million metric tons from the previou...
Post a Comment
Read more