Cuba's top cigar maker boasts record sales on soaring Asian demand

Bangkok Post Group

Cuba's top cigar maker Habanos said on Monday (February 24) that sales of the company’s luxurious smokes had soared to a record $827 million in 2024 as revenues continued to pour in from fast-growing markets in China and elsewhere in Asia. - REUTERS

Transcript

00:00They're one of the few remaining export earners for Cuba's crisis-wrecked economy.

00:06And now, cigars might just give policymakers in Havana something to celebrate.

00:11The country's top maker, Habanos, reported record sales of $827 million in 2024, driven

00:19by rising demand in China and around Asia.

00:22Company Vice President Jorge Perez said sales rose 16 percent, driven by wealthy smokers

00:28in Asia, which now accounts for a quarter of its global market.

00:34For several years now, the level of sales of Habanos in Chinese markets, either in continental

00:40China or other non-continental territories of China, have increased our product's demand.

00:45Many Chinese Habanos consumers are also big collectors.

00:50China is the world's largest market for tobacco, making it crucial to Habanos' success.

00:56But sales surged in 2024, despite Cuban farmers still recovering from Hurricanes Rafael and

01:02Ian, which hit key tobacco regions and damaged crops.

01:07But Habanos' vice president for development told Reuters that production for making cigars

01:12is guaranteed.

01:14The country's smooth tobacco is regarded as the best in the cigar industry, praised for

01:18a unique quality arising from rich soil and a benign climate.

01:23Habanos is jointly owned by Cuba's government and a group of Asian investors called Tabacalera.

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