A Cuban MSME marketed imported pork straight from the container without taking it to any sales stand, in the middle of the street in Havana.
Geovany González administrator of the Facebook group “MIPYME PLAYA”, announced this week the sale of a container of pork tenderloin in the municipality of Playa.
González warned those interested book early hours, as merchandise ships early.
“Las Boxes range from 44 pounds to 60 approx (minimum purchase one box) each box has a weight. Price: 650 CUP x L” he explained.
In another post, the businessman stressed that the meat is clean and of very good quality.
“No bones, no skin, no fat. Ready fillet“, precisely.
This is not the first time that the Cuban MSME sells food directly from the container where the goods are imported, right on the street, thus avoiding middlemen and the price is lower.
In August, a MSMEs sell boxes of frozen chicken in a park in Havana at about 250 pesos per pound.
Uruguayan journalist Fernando Ravsberg made the announcement on his Facebook, along with a photo of a container parked on a public street with a pile of boxes of Golden Phoenix brand chicken. On a nearby tree, a handwritten sign reported that a 10-kilogram box was sold for 5,700 pesos.
Many Internet users are celebrating the reduced price of the product, while others continue to find it expensive. Some are concerned about the discovery and inefficiency of this marketing system, and question who allows it, as it violates hygiene and food safety regulations.
“Underdevelopment in its purest form. Furthermore, the average ‘free-board’ cost (shipped) of a pound of US chicken meat exported to Cuba was 0.40 USD in May, ” commented Cuban economist Pedro Monreal.
For the analyst, even taking into account the cost of insurance, freight, customs and internal transportation, this MSME can get “a very high profit on a basic product”, by selling it “three times higher than the purchase price.”
“This sale under a bush is an informal market. It does not function as a competitive market nor does it connect to the internal economy. It is a ‘Phoenician’ business and cannot be defended politically, for SME and for the government to have allowed this kind of primitive market,” he concluded.
