HAVANA (Reuters):

Cuba expects to sign deals worth US$150 million with American food producers at talks starting today that point to sustained United States interest in the Cuban market despite political hurdles.

Uncertainty over the fate of ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro caused a 'hiccup,' trade consultant Kirby Jones said, but business has continued seamlessly under the caretaker government of his brother Raul Castro, and is picking up.

One U.S. farm state delegation after another has gone to Havana this year to pitch sales of wheat, corn, beans, peas, lentils, chicken and other products needed by communist Cuba to feed its people.

The governors of Nebraska and Idaho visited Havana and Delaware sent its first trade mission eyeing a new market. Last week, North Dakota won agreements to supply seed potatoes and red spring wheat. A delegation from Alabama arrivedon Friday.