AFP, Pinar Del Rio :
When they rip the big green leaves from the tobacco plant, Cuban farmers know they’re touching gold.
The island nation’s legendary cigars have closed another year for the record books, in large part thanks to Chinese consumption.
“This tobacco makes the Chinese cry with joy,” said Fernando Hernandez, a 50-year-old farmer who manages the harvest in the prime growing area in and around Pinar del Rio, in western Cuba, 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the capital Havana.
China, now the world’s first biggest consumer of Cuban cigars behind France and Spain, is driving demand.
In 2017, a year in which the luxury market overall grew by five percent, cigar sales rose a stunning 12 percent worldwide, for a record $500 million, according to Bain & Company. Chinese sales alone went up 24 percent.
“China has demand that we need to fulfill, and we can count on double-digit growth for years to come,” Jose Maria Lopez Inchaurbe, vice president of development of Habanos S.A., said during the opening of Cuba’s annual cigar festival in Havana.
The cigars are sold in humidors that can fetch more than $1 million at auction.
But behind the pricy pastime is the work of the farmers who harvest the leaves at the start of each year.
When they rip the big green leaves from the tobacco plant, Cuban farmers know they’re touching gold.
The island nation’s legendary cigars have closed another year for the record books, in large part thanks to Chinese consumption.
“This tobacco makes the Chinese cry with joy,” said Fernando Hernandez, a 50-year-old farmer who manages the harvest in the prime growing area in and around Pinar del Rio, in western Cuba, 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the capital Havana.
China, now the world’s first biggest consumer of Cuban cigars behind France and Spain, is driving demand.
In 2017, a year in which the luxury market overall grew by five percent, cigar sales rose a stunning 12 percent worldwide, for a record $500 million, according to Bain & Company. Chinese sales alone went up 24 percent.
“China has demand that we need to fulfill, and we can count on double-digit growth for years to come,” Jose Maria Lopez Inchaurbe, vice president of development of Habanos S.A., said during the opening of Cuba’s annual cigar festival in Havana.
The cigars are sold in humidors that can fetch more than $1 million at auction.
But behind the pricy pastime is the work of the farmers who harvest the leaves at the start of each year.
