- Title: Cuba's top cigar maker smokes sales record on booming high-end demand
- Date: 26th February 2024
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (FEBRUARY 26, 2024) (REUTERS) BANNER READING (English) "HABANOS WORLD CHALLENGE" AND ATTENDEES AT CIGAR-TASTING COMPETITION VARIOUS OF STAFF HANDING OUT CIGARS TO ATTENDEES CIGARETTE BEING LIT VARIOUS OF ATTENDEES SMOKING AND TALKING DURING EVENT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) HABANOS CO-PRESIDENT, LUIS SANCHEZ-HARGUINDEY, SAYING: "In 2023, we will reach record revenue
- Embargoed: 11th March 2024 22:14
- Keywords: Cuba cigars sales tobacco
- Location: HAVANA, CUBA
- City: HAVANA, CUBA
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: South America / Central America,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001360126022024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Cuba's top cigar maker Habanos said on Monday (February 26) its sales had soared to a record $721 million in 2023, a benchmark the company's executives attributed to booming demand for its most luxurious, high-end smokes in markets including China.
Habanos co-president Luis Sanchez-Harguindey said revenues jumped 31% over the previous year as the company pushed promotion of cigars like its Trinidad and Cohiba brands, exclusive smokes once reserved as gifts for foreign diplomats on the communist-run island.
Soaring sales came even as Cuban growers struggle to recover from Hurricane Ian in 2022, which flattened infrastructure and ravaged growing areas in a country already suffering its worst economic crisis in decades.
Executives told reporters that China - whose smokers increasingly covet high-end Cuban cigars - once again topped sales in terms of value, followed by Spain, Switzerland, Germany and Britain.
Habanos S.A. is owned 50% by the Cuban government and 50% by a consortium of Asian investors under the umbrella group Tabacalera.
Habanos plans to keep its entire production process on Cuba, said Sanchez-Harguindey, as per Protected Designation of Origin rules.
(Production: Carlos Carrillo, Alien Fernandez, Liamar Ramos) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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