Havana/An unknown platform began this Tuesday to ship gas cylinders in Havana at $100 per unit, paid for from abroad. Under the name Mercaful, similar to the corporate name of a Cuban-American company in Tampa (Florida), the company opened its business in Matanzas in July and expanded sales to Holguín in October, before making the leap to the Cuban capital, where its prices are even higher.
Its point of sale in the capital is located in the Lawton neighborhood, in the municipality of Diez de Octubre, where 14ymedio He found that the store was full of cylinders, but there were no direct sales, since they had to be made through the digital platform, although the collection point is there. An older lady in front of the fence was asking about the procedure and lamenting the high prices. For a new balita, Mercaful currently charges 92 dollars in Matanzas, 94 in Holguín and 100 in Havana.
The company uses its own cylinder model, 8 kg. On the second purchase, when the customer delivers the empty container, the rate drops to $50. Mercaful cylinders are different from those circulating in the rest of the country or from those sold by other companies from outside the Island, such as Supermarket, so the buyer must be registered on the platform and have the same cylinder model to access the discount. Transparency on the cost of the exchange is also opaque: many ads They limit themselves to presenting it as “a much better price”, without specifying the figure.
For a new balita, Mercaful currently charges 92 dollars in Matanzas, 94 in Holguín and 100 in Havana
In fact, in July, when the company began selling bullets in Matanzas, at $87, the refill cost only $20; few then it went up to 24 and, after a couple of months, 45, without explanations. This mechanism, which ties the customer to the company and promises a discount that is then not fulfilled, has been criticized by buyers and even by the official press.
In October, a local newspaper from Matanzas criticized Mercaful’s strategy. Citing specialists, the media points out that the company thus loses the trust and credibility of customers, beyond the legal questions involved in consumer protection, since the firm did not maintain the recharge price for founding customers or offer compensation.
Mercaful does not offer information about the registration and owners of the company. The terms and conditions published on its shopping page do not mention the company name or include any information that would allow it to be identified. However, the name coincides with that of a multi-store e-commerce platform of the corporation ASC International USAbased in Tampa, whose executive vice president is Cuban-American Vicente Amor.
The company appears in US records as a maritime cargo carrier and among the US companies that have exported products to the Island. Businessman Vicente Amor is known for his activism against US sanctions on Cuba and has been linked to several companies that do business with the Cuban Government. The official media of Havana They frequently mention him as an ally in the United States.
The name coincides with that of a multi-store e-commerce platform from the ASC International USA corporation
Although Mercaful presents itself on its networks as “the first platform for the commercialization of liquefied gas in Cuba”, it has arrived after others such as Supermarket23 or Cubamax, which have signed up for this market in dollars that has grown this year due to the lack of state distribution and the opening to sales in foreign currency. However, the experience of recent months shows that the existence of points of sale in dollars does not guarantee a stable supply nor does it resolve the difficulties of those who do not have foreign currency.
How has reported this newspaperthe state-run Unión Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet) charges up to 80 dollars for its cylinders in Sancti Spíritus and, according to testimonies from residents, 89 on the Isle of Youth. This Tuesday, in the comments to a publication in which Cupet denied that it was going to resume the distribution of gas to the population, several users denounced that in Cojímar the state company sells them today for 70 dollars.
To put the cost of the product in perspective, the minimum wage in Cuba is 3,210 pesos per month, equivalent to about 3.49 dollars at the informal exchange rate of 920 pesos per dollar, recorded this day. Thus, a $100 cylinder costs almost 29 times the minimum monthly wage, while a $70 cylinder is equivalent to more than 20.
A $100 cylinder costs almost 29 times the minimum monthly wage in Cuba, while a $70 cylinder is equivalent to more than 20
In last may, 14ymedio verified that the balitas marketed by ProGas through the KMCero platform, presented as private, used facilities and logistics channels linked to Cupet, while consumers continued without receiving their usual allocations.
The US included the state-owned Cupet on its list of sanctioned entities this year, a measure that blocks the company’s assets under US jurisdiction and prohibits transactions with it. Washington justified the decision by the company’s relationship with the military conglomerate Gaesa. The sanctions add obstacles to fuel import, processing and distribution operations in Cuba and aggravate the energy crisis that the country has been dragging on for years.
