6th March 2023
Habanos SA, has said that its revenue from cigar sales in 2022 was US$545mn, an increase of 2% on the previous year.
In a presentation to the media at the start of the recently ended Habanos Festival, the company’s Co-Presidents Luis Sánchez-Harguindey Pardo de Vera and Maritza Carrillo González, told journalists that the company’s export product was in good health, and it had increased the numbers of its sales outlets globally by 10% last year to 4,769.
Spain, France, Germany, China, and Switzerland were the main markets with some 53.7% of sales being in Europe, 19.3% in the Asia Pacific region, 15.3%, in the Americas, and 11.7% in the middle East and Africa. Under US regulations, Cuban cigars cannot be sold legally in the US.
Also speaking to the media, Luis Blanco, the Agricultural Director of the Tabacuba business group, said that under a readjusted plan following the extensive impact of Hurricane Ian on Cuba’s western province of Pinar del Rio last September (Cuba Briefing 3 October 2022), overall planting nationally this year will be around 8,500 hectares of which 5,780 hectares will be in the province.
Although the campaign ended elsewhere in the second part of February, it will continue until the end of March in Pinar del Rio. Speaking about the recovery of the province’s 10,000 casas de cura and other tobacco storage facilities in what is Cuba’s most important high-value leaf producing province, he noted that 2,400 have been repaired while 1,700 are undergoing reconstruction.
Blanco confirmed that despite the damage caused, Cuba did not have a raw material deficit and would be able “to meet the plans established both for exports and for the segments and assortments destined for the population.” In the case of tobacco for export, the impact of the hurricane was minimal, he said. Just “15% was lost and the rest processed and recovered.”
Separately, Cigar Aficionado has reported that the results come at a time of considerably higher prices for Cuban cigars and shortages of many brands, particularly for high-profile lines such as Cohiba. Last year, Habanos said that its global pricing standard worldwide would be set in line with the prices in Hong Kong. The company said that the global pricing standard was similar to how other luxury goods like watches, jewellery or handbags are sold. Tariffs and taxes mean in practice that prices vary from market to market.
The Habanos festival saw the launch of a number on new lines, the Montecristo Open, Bolívar New Gold Medal and the Línea Maestra.
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