Even though the U.S. is still the largest seller of food to Cuba, the communist nation is now turning to counties like Vietnam for cheaper, albeit “lower-quality” food imports and who also offer longer payment terms, according to the AP.

Food and agriculture goods have been exempt from the Cuban embargo since 1960.

A report from the non-partisan U.S.-Cuba Economic Trade Council details the slide in imports from the U.S. to Cuba, revealing a 26 percent drop in imports from 2008 to 2009, from $710 million to $528 million respectively. The AP says imports to Cuba from Venezuela, China, and Spain are down as well.

Also of note: sales of Cuban cigars are also falling, off eight percent in 2009 says Habanos S.A.

“The U.S. market, the largest in the world with 230 to 250 million cigars smoked annually, is off limits to Habanos due to the U.S. trade embargo imposed against Cuba since 1962,” a Reuters article reminds us.

A recent Cigar Aficionado article from writer James Suckling says that the U.S. may already be the biggest market for (illegal) Cuban cigars. “It’s only going to get bigger when Cuban cigars are legally available in cigar shops across the country,” Suckling writes.

In the 60’s, after the successful Communist overthrow of the Cuban government, Fidel Castro began seizing privately-owned assets, including farms, land, and businesses. He also expropriated assets and trademarks belonging to the Cuban cigar and tobacco industry, and declared them state property. Through the years, those original Cuban cigar families sold their trademark rights to companies outside the U.S.

As part of the agreement to sell their trademarks, many of the Cuban cigar families stipulated that once the U.S. could resume selling Cuban versions of their brands, they will be due additional fair compensation.

The U.S. market may very well be the largest market for Cuban cigars once the embargo falls away. If that happens, U.S. trademark-holders must have fair access to Cuban tobacco leaf in order to compete in the world market, and accordingly, Cuba’s government will need to operate as a more free and open market economy for that to be a reality. Then, and only then, will the original Cuban cigar families finally receive justice, fifty years in the waiting.