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

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