Cuban cigars: The biggest price increase in a long time
Jul 09, 2022
Rumours
You might have heard the rumors or read the headlines: 'Cohiba and Trinidad cigars are going up massively in price'. Sadly this is true. Habanos S.A. (the company that oversees distribution of Cuban cigars worldwide) was partially owned by Imperial Brands PLC, a tobacco conglomerate that recently sold chunks of its business to Allied Cigar Corporation S.L. an entity that appears on the Hong Kong's corporate registry. The proceeds of the sale will be used by Imperial Brands to pay vast amounts of debt.
The sale took several months to complete and in May this year (2022) it was made official. Not long after the sale was announced Habanos S.A. also announced a record breaking year for sales. Curiously enough, Spain and China were the biggest markets for Cuban cigars. Spain was the number one market surpassing China in sales volume.
In May 2022 Habanos S. A. also announced that the pricing for Cohiba and Trinidad cigars was going to be revised. The price increase would follow the pricing seen in Hong Kong, the most expensive in the world.
The reasons for the increase according to Habanos S. A. were the massive imbalance between supply and demand as well as the positioning of both Cohiba and Trinidad as internationally recognised luxury brands.
Other Cuban brands
Other brands went up in price too although not as drastically. In Britain at least, cigars tend to increase in price almost every year.