The first store in Cuba in freely convertible currency for tools and supplies opens for tobacco producers
14ymedio, Havana, September 19, 2025 –The first freely convertible currency (MLC) tobacco supply store opened this Thursday in Pînar del Río. The store, which the authorities presented as just one of many that they want to open so tobacco producers can use the virtual currency they get as a stimulus after harvest, comes six years after the implementation of the MLC and at a time when its value has plummeted.
Marino Murillo, president of Tabacuba, inaugurated the store, which the official press says has more than “100 tools and products necessary to guarantee tobacco production and improve the producers’ living conditions.” The shared images mostly show common hardware items such as brushes, hammers and screwdrivers, more useful for the machinery than for the harvest itself, and that easily fill a list of 100 products.
The most attractive offers, for which users who saw the publication on social networks now begin to show interest, are water turbines and, above all, power generators – almost essential in Cuba if you want to have electricity most of the day. However, the models on display are diesel, a fuel that is very difficult to obtain, rather than being rechargeable with solar panels.
The official press also mentioned that kits of solar panels, cement and household appliances that were previously sold in another location will also be marketed.
Located in the Tobacco Logistics Base Business Unit on Las Ovas Road, the shop is almost exclusively stocked with products from the Chinese brand Total Tools, including the power generators. However, it is unclear whether they have been donated by Beijing or purchased by the island.
The store opens at a time when tension has risen among farmers over the devaluation of the MLC, which barely buys anything in an economy now turned to the dollar. The inconveniences in a sector that produces so much income is precisely the reason behind the opening, according to Murillo himself: “It is a way for them to reinvest in their land as long as they do not have debts with the company, and to ensure that the MLC paid has purchasing power.”
The company president also assured that there are plans to open similar shops in the municipalities of San Luis and San Juan y Martínez, tobacco producers par excellence, as well as in Vuelta Arriba, in the central provinces that also produce cigars.
The authorities did not clarify prices either, although they claimed that they are “between 25% and 30% less expensive than in the current domestic market as a result of negotiating directly with the supplier while avoiding intermediaries.”They also stressed that “after-sales” service and “transport facilities” will be provided to customers if necessary.
It is not the first time that Tabacuba offers tobacco growers a way to use the MLC, which is losing value
It is not the first time that Tabacuba offers tobacco growers a way to use the MLC, which is losing value, now worth only 205 pesos, compared to the record of 310 in May 2024. At the end of August, the company delivered six modern Mercedes-Benz to Cuban farmers to “encourage tobacco production.”
According to what a tobacco dealer from Pinar del Río told 14ymedio, the offer to manage the purchase of vehicles – paid for in MLC by the farmers themselves – was made to about 300 producers, six of whom chose a Mercedes-Benz. Some 15 opted for Chinese tillers of the Foton brand and semi-trailers.
Tabacuba, he then explained, offered to pay for the cars in dollars abroad and charge the farmers the amount at the exchange rate of one MLC to a dollar, while in the informal market the American currency is worth two times more than the virtual one. For farmers, the business initially appears to be beneficial, especially given the dizzying devaluation of the MLC. But there is a catch: although it is a sector that generates many currencies and profits for the State, producers are still forced to manage their crops in the devalued MLC, without access to the dollars they generate.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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