Depending on the brand and strength, packs will cost 60 pesos, while cigars will go up to 10 pesos each
14ymedio, Havana, April 11, 2024 — The prices of cigarettes and tobacco will triple starting this Friday for retail sales, as announced this Thursday by the Ministers of Domestic Trade and Finance and Prices. The measure, published in the Official Gazette, foresees an increase of up to 60 pesos for packs of 20 cigarettes – depending on the type – and 10 pesos for one cigar from the bodega (ration store), with a poor quality leaf.
Those known as “bodega” or “one peso” tobaccos – although they currently cost up to five pesos – are generally manufactured in the same province that consumes them, with brands not marketed by the Habanos SA monopoly. They are of mediocre quality, and will now cost 10 pesos.
Vladimir Regueiro Ale, head of Finance and Price, and Betsy Díaz Velázquez, of Domestic Trade, argued that the measure is taken because “the current prices cannot cover all the costs and expenses related to the production, industrial processing and marketing of both products.”
“The current prices cannot cover all the costs and expenses related to production, industrial processing and marketing
In addition, they argued that the state budget dedicated to subsidizing the manufacture of cigarettes and tobacco for the Cuban consumer could be dedicated to other destinations, since they are not “for basic consumption” nor are they a priority in the basic family basket “in the difficult conditions in which the Cuban economy operates.”
Both ministers acknowledged that the products are barely available in the bodegas and announced that they will be sold “progressively” on the Island. “Tomorrow we will have a presence level of around 30% of the network, but not in the more than 12,000 bodegas. Distribution is a gradual process in correspondence with production,” they explained.
Tobacco will be sold with a limit: “four packs per capita,” said Díaz Velázquez, who recalled that this limit was already applied before the price increase. The monthly demand for cigarettes and tobacco in the country is, according to Internal Trade, about 34 million packs – four per consumer – and 12 million cigars.
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