Mountaire Farms, a Selbyville-based poultry operation, has signed a deal to trade with Cuba. The deal is worth roughly $500,000 and the company expects to continue trading with the once-ostracized nation, according to company President John Wise.
The trade agreement stemmed from a trade mission led by Delaware Department of Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse in March. Mountaire officials visited the country as a part of the Delaware delegation.
Wise said the initial deal involved 1 million pounds of poultry — worth about 50 cents per pound — which the company has been selling to Cuba since the mission. The shipment has already left port and “is on the water,” Wise said.
“It looks like it’s going to continue,” Wise said of the agreement. “They like us and we like the deal.”
Mountaire currently sends chicken to 38 countries, Wise added. He said the Cuban deal is unfamiliar, though, because of former trade embargoes on the country, where all agreements run through the national government.
Scuse and Wise stressed the opportunity for farmers to potentially reach further agreements with the Cuban government to add value to agricultural products at home.
“I really do believe it opens up more doors,” Wise said Tuesday. “Because Cuba is centralized in their buying, once they start doing business with a company or a region, the contacts are made.”
“I believe that our agricultural producers are in a good position to take advantage of other potentially lucrative opportunities with poultry, wheat, soybeans, apples and dairy cattle,” Scuse added in a Monday press release from Gov. Ruth Ann Minner’s office.
Scuse, who could not be reached for further comment, said in the press release that 38 states already trade with Cuba, making Delaware number 39. Delaware officials said Cuba’s proximity and its population of 11 million people — among other reasons — made the country an ideal trading partner.