Cuba exports 67.4 mln machine-made cigars in 2014

Cuba exports 67.4 mln machine-made cigars in 2014
Jun 03, 2014

HAVANA, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Cuba exported 64.7 million machine-made
cigars from January to May 2014, generating nearly 10 million U.S.
dollars in revenue, the Cuban News Agency (ACN) reported Monday.

ACN cited Vladimir Rodriguez Gonzalez, president of the state-owned
Internacional Cubana de Tabacos S.C. (ICT), the only company
manufacturing cigars on the island with mechanized equipment, as saying
the cigars are exported to many countries, including Spain, France,
Germany, Britain, Switzerland, Greece, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela,
Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and some parts of Africa and the Middle East.

Cuba is better known for its handmade cigars, but ICT manufactures
machine-made versions of the island's famed Cohiba, Partagas, Romeo and
Juliet, and Montecristo brands, among others.

Tobacco is Cuba's fourth biggest source of foreign revenue, after the
export of medical services, tourism and nickel, bringing in more than
400 million dollars a year, and as many as 150,000 Cubans are employed
in growing the aromatic tobacco leaf.

Figures provided by the joint-venture Cubatabaco S.C., the company that
markets Cuban cigars worldwide, indicate that each year more than 100
million cigars are made in Cuba and sold abroad.

Source: Cuba exports 67.4 mln machine-made cigars in 2014 | Shanghai
Daily - http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/article_xinhua.aspx?id=222147