In a tobacco field near a dryer under reconstruction, in San Juan and Martinez in northwestern Cuba, on February 21, 2023 (AFP/Yamil LAGE)
International sales of Cuban cigars, one of the island’s top export products, increased slightly in 2022, Habanos SA announced on Monday, adding that Hurricane Ian should have no impact on the economy. production in 2023.
“We are very satisfied. We have an increase of 2% at a constant exchange rate, we have reached the figure of 545 million dollars” of revenues, said the vice president of business development, José Maria Lopez , during a press conference on the occasion of the launch of the 23rd Havana International Cigar Festival.
In 2021, revenue had reached $568 million, a dramatic 15% jump from 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Lopez specified that the 2% increase, despite the fall in value, was explained by the depreciation of the euro against the dollar, while 54% of the group’s sales take place in Europe. “The result of 2022 compared to 2021, at the exchange rates that existed in 2021, gives us growth of 2%,” he said.
Habanos SA is a joint venture between the Cuban state and the international group Altadis, owned by the British Imperial Tobacco Group and headquartered in Spain.
Cuban tobacco, reputed to be one of the best in the world, is one of the island’s main export products, along with nickel, seafood, vaccines and medical services.
During the pandemic, it even became the second largest export post and an essential entry point for foreign currency on the island hit by its worst economic crisis in thirty years.
According to the commercial vice-president, Jorge Pérez Martel, citing information from Tabacuba, the Cuban company in charge of tobacco production on the island, “there are no consequences expected in 2023” on the production of cigars. intended for export following the devastating passage of hurricane Ian in September in the west of the island, the country’s main tobacco growing area.
A dryer under reconstruction after its destruction by Hurricane Ian in September 2022, in San Juan and Martinez in northwestern Cuba, February 21, 2023 (AFP/Yamil LAGE)
Europe is the main market for Cuban cigars (54%), followed by Asia (19%), Latin America (15%) and Africa and the Middle East (12%).
Cuba does not have access to the United States market, the world’s largest cigar market, due to the American embargo imposed by Washington on the socialist island since 1962.
© 2023 AFP
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