(WIPO code: CU) (last revised October 2023)

by LEX S.A., Havana City

General Information

Area

110,922 sq. km.

Population

10,985,974 (2023).

Capital

La Habana.

Official language

Spanish.

Commercial languages

Spanish and English.

Currency

Cuban peso.

General Remarks

The Republic of Cuba is formed by an archipelago with a total land area of 110,922 sq. km. Cuba is the main island, surrounded by a great number of keys and islets, Isla de la Juventud, in the south, being the largest of them.

Cuba is located at the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico. The variety and richness of its soil, irrigated by 562 river basins, enables the most varied crops and the existence of a flora ranging from the cactus in dry areas to the fragile orchids that bloom in the damp mountain woods. The Cuban territory predominantly consists of plains, with only three important mountain groups: the Sierra Maestra, in the eastern region, the Sierra de los Organos, in the western tip, and the Sierra del Escambray, in the center of the country. The inhabitants enjoy a pleasant average temperature of 25° C (77° F) during the whole year.

The fauna is rich and varied, without large animals nor poisonous species. There are the Zun-Zun (hummingbird) and the banana frog, both reputed to be the smallest of their species in the world. Very special attention is devoted to the breeding of some very ancient species such as the manjuarí, the manatee and the almiquí.

Cuba has a coastline of 5,746 km long, with more than 200 bays and several ports where ships of big draft may enter: Bahia Honda, Cabañas, Mariel, La Habana, Matanzas, Cárdenas, Isabela, Caibarién, Nuevitas, Puerto Padre, Gibara, Banes and Nipe on the northern coast; and Cienfuegos, Santiago de Cuba and Guantdnamo on the southern coast.

Production: Cuba’s major production is sugar cane, raw and refined. Sugar industry by-products are alcohol, bagasse, final molasses, wax, syrup, paper and others. Other staples are: fish and shellfish, nickel, leaf-tobacco, rolled tobacco and cigarettes, rum, citrus fruits, coffee, honey, candy, fresh fruits and vegetables, bananas, cocoa, rice, copper, chromium, iron, manganese, raw magnesia, asphaltite, kaolin, feldspar, industrial lime, marble and cement, bovine and porcine cattle and their by-products, sisal, hemp rope, twine, rope rayon and its fibers, furs and hides, glycerine, fertilizers, sponges and wood.

Imports: oil, chemical products, anthracite, mineral coal, natural rubber, metallurgical coal, textiles, wood pulp, pharmaceuticals, bulldozers, trucks, excavating machines, cranes, freight elevators, buses, tires, complete plants, pig fat, edible tallow, vegetable oils, meat conserves, fish conserves, powder milk and wheat in grain, automobiles, commercial airplanes and helicopters, fishing ships, refrigeration equipment, locomotives, ships, tug-boats, complete plants and installations for the chemical industry, oil and petrochemical industry.

Exports: raw and refined sugar, sintered nickel oxide, copper concentrate, fish and shellfish, citrus fruits, rum, cordials and alcohol, leaf and rolled tobacco, cigarettes and pipe tobacco, coffee, marble, molasses and syrup, sisal products and paint articles, engineering services and supply of food processing plants for the sugar industry and accessories, potable water plants, complete installations for the light industry, Cuban handicraft, fighting cocks, yachts for fishing and recreation as well as ferrous-cement boats and industrial machinery and equipment.