Due to problems in the polygraphic industry, the supply books for the year 2024 have not been able to be produced and delivered on time. So far, only 59% of them have occurred, the Ministry of Domestic Trade (MINCIN) acknowledged in an official note on January 12 on its official channels.
According to this information, only seven provinces have received the complete notebooks: Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Matanzas, Las Tunas, Santiago de Cuba, Guantánamo and the Isle of Youth. In the rest of the territories, work is being done to finish and distribute the notebooks as soon as possible, with more delays in the central provinces and Camagüey.
The MINCIN assured that this does not affect the sale of products in the regulated family basket, since a procedure has been designed to record the products in the booklet for the year 2023.
The minister of the sector, Betsy Díaz Velázquez, reiterated again to the state press that the supply booklet will continue to be the mechanism to distribute the regulated family basket in 2024. Including delays and lack of products, something similar to what was experienced in 2023 .
Supply Book in Cuba this 2024, according to MINCIN
These delays were something that we had already noticed in these pages, when the existing delays in Matanzas were reported. At the beginning of January, they reported that it had not been possible to prepare the new supply book due to “financial limitations.” The cause of this problem is the delay in the importation of the material necessary to manufacture the “notebooks,” they said.
As usual, there were always commentators who denied this reality, which right now MINCIN itself confirms the problem at the national level. They always clarified that “the products in the regulated family basket corresponding to the month of January will be sold with the 2023 booklet. No consumer will be harmed by not having the 2024 booklet at the time of purchasing the product.”
The MINCIN also recalled that the supply book was officially created on July 12, 1963 with the creation of the Food Control and Distribution Offices (OFICODA). All this in order to regulate the consumption of food products and other commonly used products.
