Benno Groeneveld | http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities

Cargill Inc. has signed a new $4 million contract to sell food products to Cuba. The Minnetonka-based company will supply wheat and soy protein to the island in the next few weeks, said spokeswoman Sara Thurin Rollin.
Privately owned Cargill has been doing business with Cuba since Congress partially lifted the decades-old trade embargo against the island nation in 2000. The change allowed U.S. companies to sell food and medicine to Cuba for cash; extending credit to the island is still not permitted.

Since the partial lifting of the embargo, Cargill has shipped a total of about 300,000 tons of a wide variety of food products to Cuba, Rollin said, “including vegetable oil, turkey drumsticks and wheat.”

“We value our business with Cuba,” Rollin said, adding that “the Cubans sign new contracts every couple of months.”

Cargill is not the only company trading with the island. Cuban authorities signed about $30 million worth of contracts with nine American companies earlier this week. Products bought include cattle, soybeans, newsprint and fruit juice.

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