Cigar Industry
Cuban Cigar Outlook for 2009
This first story got me worried about Cuban cigars:
Why are sales of Cuban cigars down? The minute the subprime mortgage crisis turned global, of course, demand had no place to go but down. And, there’s always the quality issue that has plagued manufacturers in recent years. So far, the damage hasn’t been bad.
Habanos S.A., which makes the storied Montecristo, Cohiba and Partagas brands, moved $390 million in 2008. That’s a drop of 3 percent from 2007.
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Unsurprisingly, Habanos blames smoking bans in France, Germany and the United Emirates (among others) in addition to the financial crisis. If you can’t find a place to smoke, you aren’t likely to do it as much (a trial I endured in Scotland last year).
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American cigar dilettantes weren’t able to piss away as much on Cuban sticks as they may have in the past. Duty free shops thus moved fewer cigars than usual, with total sales in these venues down 24 percent from 2007 to 2008.
Maybe since demand isn’t forcing more production the Cuban cigar makers will get to focus more on quality. Unfortunately, for me mainly, I can’t really talk about the quality of Cuban cigars since I’ve only had one. Yes, I know, that sucks.
Not everything is all doom and gloom for Cuban cigars, not by a long shot. Even though they were whacked with two big storms in 2008 they are set to have a great crop in 2009.
The world’s premier tobacco region in western Cuba has recovered from two powerful hurricanes in 2008 and is about to produce one of the best crops in years, growers said on Tuesday.
Lush green fields of the leafy plant stood ready for harvest in the island’s Vuelta Abajo region of Pinar del Rio province, a sacred place for cigar smokers around the globe.
Curing barns were filled to the roof with leaves that have already been picked.
“The tobacco has a lot of oil, and it’s good size. The more oil you have, the more flavor,” said planter Leonardo Moreno.
To rap all of this up Cuba is set to have their annual cigar fest:
The 11th Habano Cigar Festival was opened on Monday at the Havana Convention Center by Raul de la Nuez, minister of Foreign Commerce.
The event brings to the Cuban capital more than 1,000 participants from 70 countries including producers, experts, smokers, business people and researchers.
In summary, the state of Cuban cigars is strong! Cuba, on the other hand….
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