Habanos S.A.: 25 Years for the Sake of Future and Tradition

By Jorge Coromina Sánchez

With co-chairs Inocente Núñez Blanco and Luís Sánchez-Harguindey Pardo de Vera in attendance, Habanos S.A., the company that sells the world’s finest best premium cigars, celebrated Friday the first 25 years of existence with a conference of held at the Cetro Hall of the Meliá Cohíba Hotel in Havana.

Founded in 1994 by a directive of the Cuban Government aimed at boosting the island nation’s tobacco exports, Habanos S.A. currently amasses 70% of all sale worldwide, while its market share in terms of values hovers around 80%.

According to Ernesto González, manager of Operational Marketing for Habanos S.A, at a time when the luxury market grew by 2 percent globally in 2018, Habanos managed to grow as much as 7 percent, a figure that underlines its strength in that particular market segment.

The Habanos Group's revenue figure last year stood at $537 million, thus improving the outcomes of the previous period.

The expansion of Habanos S.A. over the course of these 25 years, in its effort to sell the 27 brands it holds in its portfolio, has allowed the company to come up with a network of retail stores and specialized outlets, as well as spaces for Habanos lovers.

Currently, Habanos S.A. boasts 148 Casas del Habano franchised stores worldwide, as well as more than a 1,000 Habanos Specialists, over 2,000 Habanos Points, 16 Cohiba Atmospheres and 380 Habanos Terraces.

But for most connoisseurs, perhaps the most significant achievement of Habanos S.A. in these 25 years of existence has been the hosting of the Habanos Festival, the most important event dedicated to the best premium tobacco on the planet, which year after year comes around in the month of February to grab the attention of producers, vendors, marketers and businesspeople around the world.

“Habanos is a unique product; unique for its origin and unique by its tradition. We have had many achievements in these 25 years, but the launch of the Behike Line within the Cohíba brand has been one of the most important of all,” said Mr. José María López, Vice President of Development for Habanos S.A.

“For Cuba, in particular, it is a great honor to turn these 25 years that have come to pass successfully, with new products every year, with an increase in our participation and seeing that our product is famous among all smokers in the whole world,” said in Habanos S.A. co-chair Inocente Núñez Blanco in an exclusive conversation with Excelencias.

“We have prepared a program of activities, and one of them is this press conference, and we think that in Cannes, where the Duty Free and Travel Retail Global Summit will be held, we will hold an event to celebrate these 25 years also with our exclusive distributors from around the world who, as you know, are present in more than 160 countries and make up a large global distribution network,” concluded Mr. Inocente Núñez.

For his part Ernesto González, manager of Operational Marketing with Habanos S.A., told Excelencias that for the 500th anniversary of Havana, for which the company launched “1519” humidor during the Habanos Festival earlier this year, the Group will roll out an edition of customized small-size cigars within the San Cristobal de La Habana brand.

“We must live with the future and maintain the tradition of our product; we have to continue to work on meeting the demands of our customers who are, in short, our reason for being,” said the Manager of Operational Marketing for Habanos S.A.

“These 25 years are a reason to be proud of what we have achieved, of what we have done, and a new goal to work even harder every day to improve what we have attained. We need to continue growing and offering new products to our customers, and raising the Habanos value chain around the world. These are 25 years of Habanos, but there are over 500 years of Cuban tobacco’s history, and we have to further stand up for those values,” said Mr. Ernesto González.