US Ban on Habano Cigar Sales Inflicts Huge Loss on Cuban Economy
HAVANA, Cuba, Feb 22 (acn) The prohibition on the sale of Cuban habano cigars in US territory, imposed by US economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, prevents the island from earning over 300 million dollars annually.
Cuba would market some 150 million cigars of all 27 renowned cigar brands in the U.S. if the blockade were lifted.
Habanos S.A Corporation vice-president Jorge Luis Fernandez said that the island counts on the raw material and expertise to carry out such sales. Habanos S.A. is in charge of commercializing the Cuban product in over 150 countries of the world.
If the US ban were lifted, Habanos could distribute some 50 million cigars during the first year alone, he said and went on to recall that before 1959, Cuban cigars, rum and coffee were major products traditionally marketed in the U.S.
Cuba operates over 100 cigar shops in all continents, but the Cuban product is banned from the US market by the unilateral measure.
Famous personalities, such as Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, Stalin, Sigmund Freud, Orson Welles, Winston Churchill and Enrico Caruso, among others were cigar smokers.
Monday, March 04, 2013
Source: Cuban News Agency