Big Tobacco Crop Loss in Pinar del Rio, Cuba from Blackouts

Estimated at over 400 hectares (nearly 1,000 acres)

Consolación del Sur officials complain that part of the crops have been ruined due to lack of irrigation.

By 14ymedio

HAVANA TIMES – Constant power outages not only wear down the patience of Cubans but also take a toll on key sectors of the country’s economy. Tobacco—one of Cuba’s prized export products—is among the hardest hit. According to official media, just in the municipality of Consolación del Sur, in Pinar del Río, 385 hectares were lost this season due to blackouts.

A report published by the local newspaper Guerrillero details the losses which affected “all tobacco varieties” grown in the area, including the sol en palo (sun-grown) and Virginia types.

Even at the start of the growing season, prospects for the municipality’s harvest were not promising. Only 1,500 hectares of tobacco were planted, and this figure has since dwindled due to the lack of electricity needed to operate irrigation systems. “We estimate the loss at half the contracted yield, which means 0.6 tons per hectare; as a result, we’re looking at a total production of 1,301 tons, down from the initial plan of 1,778,” said Mario Luis Zamora, director of the Integrated Tobacco Company in the municipality, in statements to Guerrillero.

According to Zamora, by this time his company should have harvested about 2.5 million cujes (bundles of cured tobacco), but the harsh conditions have yielded only 1.9 million, just 79% of this year’s target.

Zamora remains hopeful that conditions will improve for the next growing season—though this seems unlikely given the state of the country’s electrical grid—and that they will be able to plant 2,100 hectares. To support both the current production of 327 tons and the next cycle, he added, 1,036 curing barns have been built, and enough zinc has been received to roof another 85. In total, about 1,800 roofed barns are expected for next year.

As for the current crop, they are working with what they have. “All of the selection centers are already operating and processing the collected tobacco, and we aim to have more than 80% of the producers with clean fields and balanced accounts by July 26th,” he said.

With tobacco production clearly in distress, Habanos S.A.—a joint Cuban-Spanish venture—has begun paying more attention to machine-made cigars produced at the Internacional Cubana de Tabacos (ICT) factory in Havana. These are not Habanos, nor do they have the prestige of being hand-rolled by traditional cigar rollers, but the brand earns significant revenue from these small, easy-to-smoke and more affordable cigars, making them among the most profitable products. In 2024 alone, machine-made cigars brought in $38 million of the company’s total $827 million in revenue.

With 400 employees, Internacional is the only industrial cigar factory in Cuba and is capable of producing around 800,000 units per day. Any delay in production—even a minor one—means a loss, since, as company officials told AFP weeks ago, “everything produced is sold immediately.”

In 2001, the company became a joint venture with Tabacalera, a Spanish company which, according to AFP, belongs to “a consortium of Asian investors whose identities have never been officially disclosed.” The factory operates 64 machines capable of producing up to 42 cigars per minute under the Cohiba, Partagás, Montecristo, and Romeo y Julieta brands. To keep up with production, workers told the agency that staff are divided into three shifts per day, working from Monday to Sunday.

Nonetheless, Habanos S.A. cannot rely solely on machine-made cigars. Its clientele, accustomed to luxury and willing to pay top dollar, prefer thick, exotic vitolas (cigar sizes), sometimes priced in the thousands. Still, with the $827 million the company brought in during 2024—a record-breaking figure—it is likely to stay afloat for some time.

First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.

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