End-of-year headlines

Cuba’s Tropicana nightclub marks 70th anniversary (Reuters)

The Tropicana, Havana’s pre-revolution international celebrity haunt, celebrated its 70th anniversary on December 30, its future bright as a money-maker for the Cuban government. Under Fidel Castro, most such establishments in Cuba were closed during the 1960s. But the Tropicana, with its scantily-clad female dancers in feathers and sequins, endured, having been one of the world’s best-known nightclubs in the previous decade. Its casino was closed along with the rest on the island, but it was decided that the nightclub should continue in order to promote Cuban culture and bring the government money. The entrance fee, at around $65, does this latter job well, and around 10% of the tourists that visit Cuba come to the Tropicana.

Cuba nickel output seen lowest in a decade (Reuters)

At 60 to 65 thousand tons in 2009, Cuba’s unrefined nickel plus cobalt production was far below the nation’s average for the decade, which was 74-75 thousand tons. This is notable, as the island is one of the world’s largest nickel producers, and supplies 10% of the world’s cobalt. But nickel prices fell in early 2009 by around 80%, making production an ever more challenging enterprise. Cuban officials believed that prices threatened to make nickel exportation—Cuba’s most important export industry outside of services—unprofitable. Nickel has accounted for more than 50% of Cuban non-service export earnings in previous years.

Cuban citrus turns corner after decade of decline (Reuters)

As nickel and cobalt declined, Cuban citrus production increased by 9.1% in 2009. Impressive, after the three hurricanes in 2008 and previous years of storms that had repeatedly decimated the agricultural sector. This year’s production, however, at 427,500 tons, was far below the 2003 figure of 792,700 tons. And in the 1980s, Cuba was the world’s biggest citrus fruit exporter—mostly oranges and grapefruit—producing more than a million tons that mostly went to the Soviet Union.