Tabacuba president Marino Murillo declared on his whistlestop tour of Cuba that his target is for 70 million cigars to be exported in 2025.

He made the announcement during his tour of the Pinar del Rio province, which is the heartland of the Caribbean island’s tobacco production. This area includes Vuelta Abajo, which is widely considered to provide Cuba’s finest tobacco.

Cuban state broadcaster Canal Caribe aired Murillo’s comments yesterday (2 June): “We need to produce more than 80 million cigars in the factories and deliver more than 70 million for export.”

This seems ambitious as last year Cuba exported 50 million cigars, which is a little over half of the pre-Covid 19 pandemic levels. Although tobacco remains the nation’s leading export.

Tabacuba is the state-run entity that oversees Cuba’s entire tobacco chain. It supplies Habanos S.A. with cigars for the global market and produces handmade cigars for domestic consumption.