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Cuban cigarillo factory overwhelmed by burning demand overseas

The Havana-based ICT facility manufactures 800,000 machine-rolled cigarillos daily but is unable to keep pace with growing international demand as of 2025.
Exports have increased tenfold over two decades due to strong demand mainly in Europe and increasingly in Asia despite stricter smoking laws and a U.S. Embargo.
ICT, a company partly owned by the state and collaborating with Spain's Tabacalera, runs 64 cigarillo production machines continuously throughout the week and has a workforce of approximately 400 employees.
ICT’s sales volume of cigarillos surged from 25.4 million units in 2001 to 200 million units in the most recent year, generating $38 million in revenue, while Cuban cigar revenues increased by 16% to reach $827 million, fueled by rising demand for luxury products in Asia.
ICT president Ricardo Soler stated that strong investments planned for 2025 aim to increase production capacity to address shortages, as 'everything we produce, we sell.

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Cuban cigarillo factory overwhelmed by burning demand overseas

Cuba's sole producer of cigarillos cannot keep up with exploding demand abroad for the smaller, cheaper, machine-rolled version of the island nation's much more famous hand-crafted cigars.

2 days ago

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