Cuba's famed cigar industry is heating up again

[Judi Lynn]

Cuba's famed cigar industry is heating up again
International downturn, smoking bans have hurt sales, but Asian demand is making it up and then some
By Marc Frank
Reuters
updated 6/14/2011 1:24:28 PM ET 2011-06-14T17:24:28

HAVANA — Production of Cuban cigars and tobacco leaf are on the rise after falling on hard times in the country famed for its "puros" due to smoking bans and the international financial crisis, according to local reports.

The dexterous fingers of Cuba's cigar makers rolled out 81.5 million of the much sought-after smokes last year, compared with 75.4 million in 2009, according to a report released by the National Statistics Office on its Web page.

Cuba's finest tobacco leaf is grown and cured in western-most Pinar del Rio province where the just-concluded harvest produced 25.4 million leaves, according to local radio reports, compared with the previous year's 22.4 million leaves.

While the figures are up, they are still well below 2008 when Cuba produced just over 100 million cigars for export and Pinar del Rio's tobacco harvest totaled 26 million leaves.

More:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43397342/ns/business-world_business/

[flamingdem]

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