The managers of Consolación del Sur complain that part of the plantations have been ruined due to the lack of irrigation.
14ymedio, Havana, 27 June 2025 — The constant power outages are not only trying the patience of Cubans, but also affecting important sectors of the country’s economy. Tobacco, one of the privileged sectors because it is almost entirely exported, is one of the hardest hit. According to official press reports, in the municipality of Consolación del Sur in Pinar del Río alone, 385 hectares were lost due to the blackouts this season.
In a note published in the local newspaper, Guerrillero , the loss is reported, which damaged “all varieties of tobacco” grown in the area, including the sol en palo variety and Virginia.
The municipality’s initial production was also not expected to be high from the outset. At the start of the campaign, only 1,500 hectares of tobacco could be planted, which have been depleted due to the lack of electricity to operate the irrigation systems. “We estimate an impact of half the contract, which translates to 0.6 tons per hectare; as a result, we have a production of 1,301 tons, compared to an initial plan of 1,778 tons,” Mario Luis Zamora, director of the Comprehensive and Tobacco Company in the municipality, told Guerrillero.
According to the leader, by this date his company should have collected about 2.5 million cujes
According to the leader, by this date his company should have harvested nearly 2.5 million cujes, but the harsh conditions for maintaining the crops have left the amount at just 1.9 million, equivalent to 79% of what was forecast for this year’s campaign.
Zamora is hopeful that the situation will be different next season—an unlikely outcome given the state of the country’s electrical system—and that they will be able to reach 2,100 hectares planted. To ensure the current production of 327 tons and the next, he adds, 1,036 drying houses for the leaves have been built, and “we are receiving the zinc needed to roof another 85.” In total, he estimates that around 1,800 houses will be roofed next year.
As for the current crop, we’re working with what we have. “We already have all the selected crops working and processing the stored tobacco, and we hope to have more than 80% of the producers with their lands cleaned and their accounts settled by the 26th.”
With cigar production clearly in trouble, Habanos SA—half Spanish, half Cuban—has begun to pay more attention to machine-rolled cigars at the Internacional Cubana de Tabacos (ICT) factory in the capital. These aren’t Cuban cigars, nor do they have the prestige of being rolled by the sweat of the destemmers, but the profits the brand makes from the smaller, easier-to-roll, and more affordable sizes position them among its most profitable products. In 2024 alone, machine-rolled cigars brought in $38 million of the $827 million the company recorded.
With 400 workers, the International is the only industrial cigar factory in Cuba, and can deliver about 800,000 units daily.
With 400 employees, Internacional is Cuba’s only industrial cigar factory and can deliver around 800,000 cigars per day. Production delays, even minimal, translate into losses because everything produced, its managers assured AFP weeks ago, “goes on sale immediately.”
In 2001, the company became a joint venture with Tabacalera, a Spanish company that, according to AFP, belongs to “a consortium of Asian investors whose names have never been officially revealed.” It has 64 machines that can produce up to 42 cigars per minute, from the Cohiba, Partagás, Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta brands. To maintain the pace, workers told the agency, the staff is divided into three work shifts per day, from Monday to Sunday.
However, Habanos SA can’t rely solely on machine-made cigars. Its clientele with luxurious tastes and deep pockets prefers thick, exotic vitolas that sometimes cost thousands of dollars. However, with the company’s $827 million in revenue in 2024—breaking its own record—it will surely be able to survive for a while.
* Cujes are sticks of attached tobacco leaves used in drying.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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