By Jay Amberg Bloomberg Lifestyles. Mon, 03 Jul 2000, 12:36pm EDT
Havana, June 29 -- Jean Dominique Comolli, co-president of cigar industry giant, Altadis SA, recently headed a French business delegation to Cuba on a mission to increase trade between the two countries, according to Granma, Cuba's state newspaper.
The French delegation, representing 25 companies, visited Cuba's tobacco farms in Pinar del Rio province, southwest Cuba, where Cuban farmers grow most of the tobacco wrapper leaf used in the manufacture of hand-made Cuban cigars.
Altadis SA has a significant stake in Pinar del Rio, where the company has helped subsidize annual tobacco harvests and supplied Cuban farmers with chemicals, fertilizer and modern machinery to make planting and harvesting more efficient.
Besides aiding Cuban tobacco farmers, Altadis SA purchases 44 percent of all Cuban cigar exports in the premium category, including major brands like Montecristo, Partagas and Romeo y Julieta.
Altadis SA was formed by the merger of Spain's Tabacalera and France's Seita. The company is Europe's third largest cigarette manufacturer and the world's leading cigar maker.
In December, Altadis SA purchased a 50 percent stake in Habanos SA, Cuba's global marketer and distributor of its cigars, for $500 million.
The purchase was completed this month and under the arrangement Habanos SA has two presidents, Oscar Basulto, a former vice minister of Cuban agriculture and Jamie Garcia Andrade, a Spaniard who worked 10 years in Cuba for Tabacalera SA as the Spanish tobacco giant's point man in Havana.
Comolli told Granma that in terms of bilateral trade, France occupies second place among Cuba's trading partners with $280 million in exports, ahead of both Canada and Germany.
During the visit, Comolli said the French company Voyanes Inter-Transport signed a contract with Cubatur, Havanatur and Rumbos, three state-run tourist companies, to bring its clients to Cuba.
Of particular interest to Cuban cigar smokers was business-to- business contact with French printing companies with an eye to installing new banknote printing machinery and working with Habanos SA to improve seals on Cuban cigar boxes to discourage counterfeiting.
Counterfeiting of Cuban cigars is a global problem for Altadis and Habanos. Both companies have acknowledged the proliferation of fake Cuban cigars has contributed to a general perception that the quality of Cuban cigars has been declining.
Earlier this year, Habanos SA began sealing its cigar boxes with a warranty/tax seal that incorporates new anti-counterfeiting measures. Cuba has used the warranty/tax seal since 1912 and by most accounts it's one of the most visible means of determining whether Cuban cigars are authentic.
A number of companies have been working with Habanos SA on the possible use of holographic seals and bar coding on cigar boxes.
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