The joint venture Habanos S.A., 50% owned by Spain, earned 721 million dollars in 2023
14ymedio, Havana, 23 September 2024 — The authorities estimate 300 million dollars to be the amount received each year by the Cuban State thanks to tobacco, according to a note published this Monday in the State newspaper Granma. It reports on the start of the campaign in Pinar del Río, where the irrigation of seedbeds is beginning with the aspiration of sowing 12,000 hectares, more than half of the 20,000 that will be planted throughout the country.
Marino Murillo Jorge, president of the Tabacuba Business Group, after contributing to the shipwreck of the country’s economy as the author of the Ordering Task, announced that the tobacco sector’s bad luck after the passage of Hurricane Ian – just two years ago – has passed, and the harvest is expected to reach the 25,500 tons of leaves required by the industry.
It will be necessary, the official warned, “to increase production, in order to have the raw material that is needed for the export of braided cigars.” For this, the State has guaranteed something unusual in the midst of scarcity: secure fuel until March and the availability of all fertilizer formulations. “The hirings and arrivals are behaving as we expected. In terms of resources, we have exceptional conditions,” he exulted.
For this, the State has guaranteed something unusual in the midst of scarcity: secure fuel until March and the availability of all fertilizer formulations
Everything is apparently ready for profits to continue to rise, something confirmed by information published this Sunday in Cubadebate, according to which Habanos S.A. has obtained a record income in 2024 of 721 million dollars. In reality, it is about the turnover achieved in 2023 that the sector expects to equal or exceed this year. Net profits, after deducting production and marketing expenses, are not public, and only half correspond to Cuba, since it is a joint venture equally owned by Cubatabaco and the Spanish ITI Cigars.
Habanos S.A. celebrates its 30th anniversary this year and boasts of being “a global reference in the promotion and marketing of the famous Habanos, considered by many as the best cigars of the world,” with a presence in 130 countries and different lines, among which Behike of the Cohíbo brand stands out, considered one of the best premium tobacco creations.
There are reasons for satisfaction, since it is one of the few products that work in the Cuban economy. The company closed 2023 with 721 million, which was 31% more than the previous year in which it achieved 545 million dollars, which at the exchange rate change was 578 million, ten million more than in 2021, the year in which revenues had already grown by 15% compared to 2020.
“The news is very encouraging, but those millions of dollars are not seen on the Cuban’s table,” says a reader of the news published this Sunday. “Divide it between the cost of rice, petroleum and cooking oil and tell me the result. It will take ten exportable products just like this one to see,” replied another, knowing that tobacco is an exception in the national industry, only comparable to rum, charcoal, lobster and honey, which, however, record much more modest benefits.
Murillo Jorge commented that the main challenges of the sector are to achieve greater efficiency and raise agricultural yields to the 1.4 tons per hectare to which the Group aspires.
The need to protect tobacco also involves “reducing dependence on fossil fuels and the National Electricity System”
The need to protect tobacco also involves “reducing dependence on fossil fuels and the National Electric System,” says Murillo. That is why he announced as a priority the transformation of energy consumption to photovoltaics, which begins to accumulate expectations before it is even installed.
As a result of the passage of Hurricane Ian in September, 90% of the tobacco houses in Pinar del Río were razed. Tobacco producers told the foreign press at that time that it would possibly take “between eight and ten years” for the province to recover, but the attention and resources that the Cuban authorities have put into the sector have facilitated an unusually rapid rehabilitation.
Despite the fact that the plantings have been smaller these last two years, the revenues from the export of the product are outstanding. However, Murillo asks for more efficiency, especially when it comes to “improvising agricultural yields, organization and discipline in the correct use of the hard currency we have to materialize imports.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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