By Jay Amberg Bloomberg Lifestyles.
Bloomberg.com. Thu, 12 Apr 2001,
11:45am EDT
Havana, April 11 -- Habanos SA, Cuba's global marketer and distributor for
its cigars, has renewed a contract with China to export specific brands of its
premium cigars, the company said.
The contract, signed with China's CNTIEC, the agency which handles the
importation of tobacco products into China, permits Habanos to export specific
sizes and brands of Cuban cigars to China and Hong Kong, a spokesman said.
"This contract was first signed with CNTIEC in 1999 and it's renewed
every year,'' said Bernardo Gonz, a spokesman for Habanos in Havana. "The
Chinese monopoly imports and distributes these cigars in China and it is the
only entity authorized to do so.''
Gonz said Habanos exports its cigars to China through Infifon Hong Kong
Ltd., Cuba's exclusive distributor in China.
"The contract allows Habanos to export, through Infifon, 18 sizes
(vitolas) of cigars and seven brands,'' Gonz said. "The brands are Cohiba,
Montecristo, Romeo y Julieta, Punch, Partagas, H. Upmann and Jose L. Piedra.''
While Gonz didn't specify the dollar amount of the contract or the export
values of the seven brands sold in China, Manuel Garcia, vice president of
Habanos, said cigar exports to Asia and the Far East account for about 3 percent
of annual sales, compared with 72 percent to Europe.
Garcia said total Cuban sales are projected to be about 150 million units
(cigars) this year, compared with 118 million the previous year.
Cuba's five best-selling cigar brands in all markets are Montecristo at 22
percent of sales; Romeo y Julieta, 12 percent; Partagas, 10 percent; Quintero, 7
percent and Cohiba, 6 percent, Garcia said.
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