Exporting to Cuba, Step by Step

Cuba’s private businesses import solar panels, batteries, tools, food, and parts by the container. Since 30 September 2026 the old way to pay for them is closed. We wrote the guide to the new way for the people who have to do it: the Cuban buyer, the U.S. seller, and the logistics in Florida. Here it is in ten steps.

The ten steps

1. The buyer confirms it can import, in its own name with a Ministry of Foreign Trade authorization, or through a state importer acting as consignee only, never as buyer or payer, and never one that is blocked, on the Restricted List, or half-owned by a blocked party.
2. The buyer orders from a U.S. seller that owns the goods: a U.S. manufacturer, or a U.S. distributor selling from its own U.S. inventory. U.S.-made goods first; allied-made goods only when a U.S. seller already holds them in U.S. stock.
3. The exporter classifies every product and sets its Commerce authorization, usually License Exception SCP for goods for the private sector, AGR for food, or a license. It screens the buyer and its owners.
4. The seller ships from its U.S. warehouse to QvaPort’s planned consolidation point in Florida (QvaPort, LLC is in formation and not yet operating).
5. The seller keeps the records: proof the goods are U.S.-made or already in U.S. commerce, and supplier traceability for products with forced-labor risk.
6. In Florida, QvaPort receives the goods from U.S. inventory.
7. QvaPort (once formed) relabels in Spanish and consolidates per Cuban buyer.
8. The buyer pays the exporter from its QvaPay business account, against the invoice and export documents. The seller runs its own supply chain with its own money.
9. Departure: the export declaration is filed and customs releases the cargo, sold FOB Port Everglades. The Cuban buyer books the ship to Mariel and pays the Cuban port charges from its own funds, outside QvaPay.
10. Arrival: the buyer’s customs broker clears the goods and the buyer pays Cuban duties and fees.

Three things a regulator checks first

• The exporter is a real seller. Two contracts, two invoices, two prices. It takes title and risk and keeps a margin. A shell that forwards the Cuban buyer’s money to a factory abroad is an indirect payment from Cuba, and QvaPay refuses it.
• U.S. first. U.S.-made goods lead; allied-made goods come only from U.S. distributors’ existing U.S. stock. Florida is for consolidation, Spanish labels, and a regular ship to Mariel, never for relabeling a foreign factory’s sale.
• No Cuban state party in the deal. Not buyer, owner, payee, or end user. A state import agency may appear only as consignee, and only if it isn’t blocked or listed. Mariel’s port operator is blocked, so neither QvaPay nor the exporter deals with it; the carrier holds its own authorization to call there.

A hardware store in Camagüey orders U.S.-made pumps and fittings from a Miami distributor. Once formed, QvaPort will consolidate them in Florida with two other Cuban buyers’ orders before the container sails to Mariel. The store pays the Miami distributor from QvaPay.

Illustrative example; not customers.

QvaPay has asked OFAC to confirm how the export rules apply to these payments. Until it answers, we release each payment only against the full export file.

Get the guide

The full guide covers documents, permits, timelines, and what cannot be done, in English and Spanish, on cubanew.com.

U.S. law, a U.S. port, and a U.S. payment rail, carrying goods to Cuba’s private sector.