Global sales of Cuban cigars recover in 2022 after the impact of the pandemic

The main company behind the famous Cuban cigars said Monday that its global revenues recovered in 2022 year-on-year, led by its market in Europe, after two years of complications due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Habanos SA, a joint venture in equal parts between the Cuban State and the British Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, said that its global sales increased last year by 2%, to 545 million dollars.

“We are very satisfied with these results. Habanos continues its growth path already demonstrated in the world in recent years,” said the company’s Vice President of Development, the Spanish José María López, at the start of the cigar festival in Havana.

López said at a press conference that Europe continues to be consolidated as the first region in the world turnover of Cuban cigars, with 54%, followed by the Asia-Pacific area (19%), America (15%) and Africa and the Middle East (12%) of sales.

In Europe, sales have seen a boost mainly in the markets of Spain, France and Germany, the executive added, adding that China has become an important market, becoming “the driving force” of Premium cigar sales. in the Asia-Pacific region.

Habanos SA, which sells 27 hand-rolled Premium brands, produces the famous Cohiba, Montecristo, Partagás and Romeo y Julieta, among others, considered the best cigars in the world.

This year, the festival brings together some 2,000 participants from a hundred nations, some 250 experts and wealthy aficionados who for a week participate in humidor sales, launches of new vitolas, dinners and tours of plantations and factories in Havana.

“We are sure that this year we will even surpass what was achieved in 2022, the co-president of Habanos SA, Luis Sánchez, told Reuters, despite the remaining effects of COVID and the ravages caused by Hurricane Ian, mainly in Pinar del Río, the main tobacco-producing region on the island.

Cuban cigars are sold in 140 countries, except in the world’s largest market, the United States, due to the economic embargo that Washington has applied to Havana for more than six decades.

Habanos SA, which has said it has 40% of the global Premium tobacco market, controls up to 70% in volume and 80% in sales of the hand-rolled cigar market, one of the main exports and notable injection of foreign currency to the fragile economy of the Caribbean island.

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