1. Who Needs the US? Habanos Profits Up in 2007
by Jennifer Jordan
Cuban Cigars, the only cigars with the ability to "smoke" all others, saw a raise in sales during 2007. According to Habanos SA, a government run tobacco company located in Cuba that controls the distribution, advertising, and exportation of Cuba cigars, sales increased to 402 million. Eat your heart out, JFK.
Excluding the US, which has a forty six year trade embargo against Cuba, a trade embargo that - much to the disappointment of smokers everywhere - includes cigars, Cuban cigars make up fourth fifths of the cigar market worldwide. Smokers in Switzerland, France, Germany and Cuba itself purchase the most.
Founded in 1994, Habanos - which literally means "something from Havana" -produces over 25 cigar brands that range from expensive Cohibas to the cheaper Montecristos. Though they do not state how many cigars they sell each year, they approximate that they make around 160 million in annual revenue.
As owners of the trademark branded on all cigars made in Cuba, Habanos SA has the ability to control distribution, deciding who gets Cuban cigars and who gets to be out of luck. Because counterfeiting is often big in the Cuban cigar industry, Habanos only exports to one company in each country. For instance, in Britain, Hunter and Frankau are the lucky ones. The US is among one of the nations that Habanos SA does not export to.
But, just because Habanos doesn’t export to the US doesn't mean they don't someday hope to. In 2000, a France-Spain tobacco company got on the Habanos bandwagon and purchased 50 percent of the corporation. This company, Altadis, has led many extreme changes to cigar production and sales. Now, Habanos has somewhat restructured and adopted many parallels used by cigar companies that do export to the United States.
Some people speculate that Habanos' changes are in hopes that the US trade embargo against Cuba will someday end; when it does, Habanos will be ready.
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