Cuba to Fulfill Commitments

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 12/02/2008

Cuba's tobacco industry will fulfill all of its domestic- and international-market commitments for the remainder of this year and 2009 despite the damage caused by hurricanes this year, according to the EFE news agency quoting high-level officials. "All the commitments made for exports, domestic consumption and the cigar industry in what is left of this year and 2009 will be fulfilled," Osvaldo Encarnacion, vice president of state-owned TABACUBA, told the official daily Granma. Encarnacion said Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, which hit the island in late summer and caused $8.65 billion of damage, arrived before the 2008-2009 season had started, so "the losses in agriculture were minimal". However, hurricane Ike, which battered the island on September 7-9, and hurricane Gustav, which hit western Cuba on August 30, wiped out hundreds of thousands of hectares of farmland, damaged or destroyed 500,000 dwellings and caused extensive damage to infrastructure, he added. Enditem