The emblematic Coppelia ice cream parlor welcomes hundreds of Havana residents every day. The news about the increase in ice cream prices generated some uncertainty. What is the reason for this measure in the midst of the difficult socio-economic context the country is going through?

Learn more details on the subject in the following interview with Ana Mercedes Herrera Rubier, director of UEB Helados Coppelia and Carlos Beltrán, Economic Specialist of Complejo Lácteo Habana Company.

Economic-social context

"We Cubans are used to drinking ice cream, we are not going to put that in the background, but we must also take into account the economic context that the country is going through, in which there is an increase in prices, in a general sense."

 All the basic raw materials used, both domestic and imported, have gone up in price, that is why the cost sheet and the price of ice cream are changing".

We are on the same path, an effort is being made to guarantee the basic food basket of the population and, as far as we are concerned, priority has been given to children's milk and soy yogurt, which are ahead of ice cream production.

Ana Mercedes Herrera Rubier, director of UEB Helados Coppelia.

Raising prices to pay profits?

"It is not that we want, at the cost of price, to pay profits we work to have efficiency we repeat daily that profits have to be a reflection of the efficiency of the industry, but it includes everything, prices, rationalizing energy and water to the minimum and complying with a series of requirements, in all that is included, the cost of raw materials."

"To give you an example, in one day we use 9 thousand liters of fresh milk, to which you have to add sugar, stabilizer, you have to balance it, you have to add vegetable fat, in the case of Coppelia ice cream, you have to add butter."

"We use, in most cases, products from other national dairy industries that also increased their prices, add to that the cost of the packaging: the box, the nylon or the bucket with lid, plus the price of sugar, many times national, others imported, increased".

"When you reach the consensus of producing the amount of gallons of ice cream that your production plan has, the cost tab inevitably increases and, therefore, the price of ice cream."

Impact of the blockade

"The blockade has a serious impact on the Dairy Industry, let's take into account how much it costs the country for raw materials to arrive, we have worked in spite of all the difficulties so that it does not stop. I have a solid maintenance team and the parts face the same difficulties".

"On the other hand, we must talk about the energy carriers, we are working hard on that, so that we do not exceed the power factor, that the boiler starts at the appointed time, we must take care of the cleaning every day, these prices also increased."

Carlos Beltrán, Economic Specialist, Havana Dairy Complex Company.

"It is mostly a business issue, to minimize the impact that this measure could have had on the population, we approved jointly with the Ministry of Finance and Prices, an indirect expense coefficient of 8 percent, but everything depends on the behavior of prices in the current situation."

We had a loss of 147 million pesos, for which reason, there was no distribution of profits, there was an impact on the workers, because the average salary remained at two thousand 647, add to this, the productive cost.

Carlos Beltrán, Economic Specialist of the Havana Dairy Complex Company.

"The prices of raw materials have increased: fresh milk from storage costs 23 pesos per liter, sugar rose from seven thousand to 12 thousand pesos, whole milk from 79 pesos to 110 pesos per kilogram, we sell whole milk at 81, 80 pesos per kilogram for trade, however, it is currently costing us 103 pesos".

"Soy yogurt is costing us 6.29 pesos because soy beans increased from 7,000 to 13,000 pesos per ton, we are losing 2 pesos and 69 cents per bag, which has been causing us losses because all market prices have increased, all this forced us to increase the cost tab".