The Feliú Leyva No. 1 grassroots business unit (UEB), one of the five of its kind that guarantee exports at the Holguín Tobacco Collection, Processing and Rolling Company, has set a production plan for the current year of 2,325,100 hand-rolled tobaccos, according to a report by Juventud Rebelde (JR) newspaper.
Julio Zayas, director of Feliú Leyva No. 1, explained to JR that “hand-rolled tobacco is the fundamental objective of the collective. For this purpose, we’re focused on the branch and cut cigars, aimed at supplying the Partagás, Romeo y Julieta, Cohíba and H. Upmann brands, among others. Individual plans and quality parameters are always being monitored. The fluctuation of the labor force is currently the most complex obstacle, but we are preparing aspiring rollers”.
He added that the factories, unlike other entities, train their own operators. “We have training courses in which experienced tobacco workers act as teachers, given their high qualifications in confection. In the current year, we plan to increase this apprenticeship, so that interested people can join the training”.
Leonardo Bruzón, head of the department of Foreign Trade, Foreign Investment and International Cooperation of the provincial government, informed that Holguín is currently exporting 33 items, including 26 goods and seven services.
“Rolled tobacco is an important contribution to the country. In 2022, some ten million units left Holguin territory, out of the 50 million produced in the country,” Bruzon added.
According to JR’s information, the tobacco production chain in the country is almost closed, since the basic raw materials are genuinely Cuban. That is why supplies are very stable, and in the case of this Holguin factory they are mostly acquired through the Comercializadora del Grupo Tabacuba in the province of Granma.
The cigars rolled in this region of eastern Cuba are destined for a single customer: Habanos S.A., a Havana-based company that markets them by brands worldwide.
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