Cuba's Economy.. Blog # 12

The director of the Tabaco de Cuba Entrepreneurial Group (TABACUBA) Oscar Basulto, who is also the president of Habanos S.A. Company said that more than 200,000 persons participate during the peak of the Cuban tobacco-leaf harvest.
Basulto gave an explanation on the island’s production of cigars and cigarettes and said that Habanos are considered as the best premium cigars in the world, while they are being commercialized in more than 100 countries by Habanos S.A.The executive explained that the national cigarette consumption reaches 12 billions units every year and that the industry expects to further improve production quality and increase its yield up to 15 billion cigarettes annually. He also said that by the end of this year Cuba could reach maximum employment which i think is great for Cuba and its economy. This is a nice goin for Cuba so far.

Tobacco is an important product for Cubans, from the cultural, economical, and historic perspective. The tobacco industry is a Cuban major economic sector. In western Pinar del Rio province alone, so famous for the quality of its tobacco plantations, more than 25,500 persons are employed in the sector. More than 50,000 employees are expected by the end of 2010 which i keep thinking is great as long as it really does happen. I also think that a rise is necessary too in the salary for the Cubans since they get paid such a small amount of money in Cuba. Right now the average salary in Cuba is US $18 a month.


Habanos S.A. executives said on Monday sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers.Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos, the worldwide distributor of Cuban cigars, marketing director Ana Lopez told a news conference kicking off the annual Habanos cigar festival.The Julieta is an attempt to overcome perceptions among women that Cuban cigars are made up of "only strong tobacco for men," she said.The search for new markets is needed because even though Cuban cigars are considered the world's finest, sales are slipping with the rise of anti-smoking laws around the world, said Habanos vice president Manuel Garcia.
Even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars.Habanos -- which produces other well-known brands such as Cohiba, Monte Cristo, Trinidad and Partagas -- has about 71 percent of the sales in its markets, Garcia said.The U.S. market, the largest in the world with 230 to 250 million cigars smoked annually, is off limits to Habanos due to the U.S. trade embargo imposed against Cuba since 1962..

All these plans sound great to me since a maximum employment in Cuba would be very efficient and good for the Cuban people. These plans and news that i find in the internet and the newspapers sound good to my ears and make me feel like there is hope for the Cuban people and somehow they will get what they deserve for all they do in the country. If the embargo opens and Cuba is able to trade with USA it would help the Cuban people greatly since doors would be open and and chances would be taken from the people in Cuba for the better of them. Communism has taken Cuba, which was a very rich country before 1959, to a devastating image and figure. Hopefully everything changes and it all becomes better for the best of everybody in the world. This way the Cuban people could leave the country if they wanted to and we can also visit the country too. The economy in the country would greatly grow and maximum employment would be reached too with a higher chance of Cuba getting back what it deserves.