In the first four months of the year, the Island’s purchases grew by 74% and reached more than 291 million dollars.
14ymedio, Madrid, June 17, 2026 — The authorization granted to U.S. companies to sell fuel to private businesses in Cuba is generating substantial profits for exporters, who in the first four months of the year have already earned 24 million dollars. Sales volumes are soaring month after month, and in April alone they doubled what was obtained in March, exceeding 12 million dollars.
According to data provided by the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council (US-Cuba Trade), through the fourth month of the year the Island’s private MSMEs [Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises] purchased gasoline worth 3.72 million dollars, diesel and other blends worth 8.24 million dollars, and lubricants and specialized oils worth 470,714 dollars. The largest share of the total went to fuel oil, with more than 11.13 million dollars, with Texas being the principal source of all these fuels, although Miami also had significant participation in processing the shipments.
At the end of January, when the Trump Administration authorized this type of sale for the first time, the volume amounted to only 87,746 dollars. At the same time, the oil blockade affecting the Island came into force, and from that moment the figure began to grow rapidly, reaching 2.44 million dollars in February and 8,788,501 dollars in March. April therefore represented a substantial increase, with 12,375,227 dollars.
April therefore represented a substantial increase, with 12,375,227 dollars
Although the value of the purchases is known, what has not been quantified is the volume. The rise in prices has also been significant in recent months due to the war with Iran, but the financial news outlet Bloomberg, which places total shipments to Cuba at 3,300, mentions at least 275 diesel shipments and 82 gasoline shipments, most of them in so-called isotanks. According to its calculations, each of these steel cylinders must be mounted on shipping container frames and each can carry a maximum of 150 barrels of fuel (23,848 liters).
The quantity is, Bloomberg says, “insignificant” compared to bulk shipments on tanker vessels, which can transport 250,000 barrels per voyage, a point recently highlighted by Cuban authorities, who acknowledged that this relief existed but was insignificant and limited only to MSMEs.
The impact of these 24 million dollars is very noticeable in the overall account of embargo exemptions, which has surged thanks to fuels but above all to automobile sales, which operate under a license granted by the Biden Administration that the Trump Administration has never revoked. In the first four months of 2025, Cuba imported goods from the United States worth 167.6 million dollars, including 119.2 million dollars in food products (mainly chicken); 1.2 million dollars in motor lubricants; and 46.6 million dollars in vehicles, machinery, and other goods.
By contrast, in the same period of the current year, the total grew by 74% to reach 291.5 million dollars, with 134.7 million dollars in food, 24 million in fuel, and 132.8 million in vehicles. This category experienced a real boom, tripling the figures from the first four months of 2025.
The data corresponding to agricultural exports and certain authorized goods are more difficult to analyze, since they fluctuate so much that comparisons depend on the reference point. For example, if one considers this same first four-month period, there is indeed an increase of 13%. By contrast, Cubatrade records a decline of 12%, because it includes some different products in the comparison.
In April, Cuba acquired agricultural products worth 44 million dollars, much more than the 36,655,397 dollars of the same month in 2025 and the 40,624,058 dollars in 2024. In addition, the amount also increased compared with March 2026, when it totaled 36,967,947 dollars. The volume has been rising since January, when the United States increased sanctions on Cuba. April’s value was the highest for that month in 17 years and the fourth highest in 25 years, although price increases must be taken into account.
Of those products, chicken accounts for more than 44% of sales, with its various cuts occupying the top three positions on the list, representing a total of 19,480,875 dollars. It is followed by soybean meal, used mainly for domestic animal feed, for which 4,554,552 dollars were paid. The country usually imports about 350,000 tons per year.
Of those products, chicken accounts for more than 44% of sales, with its various cuts occupying the top three positions on the list, representing a total of 19,480,875 dollars
Other products purchased include corn (3,008,120 dollars), eggs, with purchases totaling 1,682,915 dollars; pork, with expenditures of 1,579,220 dollars; and rice, with 828,846 dollars.
The United States also exported other products related to the electrical crisis, such as solar panels worth 299,861 dollars and diesel-powered electric generators worth 34,080 dollars, as well as 16,800 dollars in manicure and pedicure preparations.
Cuba’s food dependence on foreign sources has increased in recent years as domestic production has declined. One example is sugar, once the engine of the country’s economy and a source of prestige and foreign currency that now arrives from abroad. In 2025, the Island purchased 14.9 million dollars’ worth from the United States, while in 2024 it spent 11.1 million dollars.
Cuba used to consume 700,000 tons of sugar per year and export the remainder, but with current production levels the situation has changed radically, and since at least 2020, every sugar harvest carried out on the Island has been described as the worst in the last 100 years.
In 2025, Cuba purchased goods from the United States worth 490,111,943 dollars, ranking third behind China and Spain. The Island depends on imports for more than 80% of its basic food needs. Rice arrives from Guyana, Vietnam, or China; pasta from Turkey; canned sardines from Venezuela; and grains from Portugal, among other products.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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