THE CUBA REVIEW 



37 



THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY 



PRICES WILL WORK HIGHER 



"Fully sixty per cent, of the production of 

 cigars in Cuba is for England, France, Ger- 

 many, Austria, Russia and the other European 

 markets," says A. L. Sylvester, president 

 of the American Cigar Company and chairma,n 

 of the Henry Clay & Bock Co. "Owing to 

 the European war all production of Havana 

 cigars has ceased temporarily. All the 

 factories of the Henry Clay & Bock Co. in 

 Cuba closed do\\ni on July 31st. Beginning 

 on September 1st the company resumed 

 operations to fill all orders for the American 

 market. In addition to this a quantity 

 of cigars made up for the English market 

 and which could not be shipped will also 

 be offered in this market for sale. They 

 constitute high class lines of cigars which 

 the English public has been accustomed to 

 import. 



"Owing to the fact that the factories have 

 been closed in August stocks in the hands 

 of importers have been materially reduced. 

 Xo change whatsoever has been made, 

 however, in the price of cigars to the im- 

 porter. 



"Conditions in the tobacco market in 

 Cuba have been upset for the reason that 

 a large part of the Cuban crop produced 

 what is known as low grade, inferior tj^^es 

 of tobacco. Heretofore this low gi'ade 

 tobacco has found a market in Germany, 

 but owing to the avenues of sales being cut 

 off naturally the grades suitable for making 

 fine cigars are bound to advance materially 

 in price. There is no market for the low 

 grade and the price has got to be put on the 

 high grade cigars. If the present conditions 

 continue undoubtedly there will be an" 

 increase in the price of Havana cigars." 



BEST LEAF HIGH PRICED 



"The best grade of Cuban tobacco is 

 selling at the usual high price," said Marcelino 

 Perez, of the Tuval factor}', of New York, 

 recently. 



"Only the lower class tobacco sells cheaply 

 and that is the kind that, as a rule, goes to 

 Germany and other European countries. 



"Most of the cigar factories in Havana 

 are closed, and the Havana industry seems 

 worse than ever it was in the Spanish- 

 American war. All that Havana can seem- 

 ingly do is to export to the United States. 

 As two-thirds of her product was exported 

 to other countries than the United States 

 there is bound to be great stagnation in the 

 industry in Havana while the war continues, 

 and perhaps for some time afterwards." 



Figures showing the quantities of cigars 

 and leaf tobacco to foreign countries will 

 be found on this page. 



SEVEN MONTHS' TOBACCO EXPORTS 



Some interesting statistics of Cuba's 

 tobacco exports in the seven months ending 

 July 31st, just before the outbreak of the 

 Em-opean war, are given in the pages of 

 El Tobacco of Havana. 



Comparisons are made with the exports 

 for this period since 1900. The figures 

 follow : 



Cigars were exported in the following 

 quantities: 



1914 1913 



January 11,507,444 13,161,385 



Februarv 13,487,995 14,431,875 



March. ' 12,678,128 13,331,495 



April 16,537,281 18,431,837 



May 11,994,798 13,336,714 



June 10,460,839 12,906,444 



July 10,534,032 16,199,838 



The Major portion of these cigars went to 

 the important markets of the world in the 

 following quantities: 



1914 1913 



England 34,404,996 38,951,306 



United States 20,724,640 26,589,359 



Germany 5,143,946 4,231,757 



Canada 5,216,537 7,670,114 



France 7,217,275 8,187,857 



Australia 3,444,191 3,448,481 



Spain 5,280,901 3,339,424 



For the fifteen years ending with 1914, 

 the exports of cigars and leaf tobacco for 

 the period already stated were as follows: 



Leaf 

 Tobacco 

 Cigars. (Bales) 



1900 110,886,282 72,882 



1901 113,864,777 148,209 



1902 117,160,170 155,415 



1903 112,155,444 152,714 



1904 120,897,398 130,430 



1905 126,264,516 151,558 



1906 144,305,150 155,212 



1907* 70,029,328 113,494 



1908 105,136,382 149,725 



19G9r .-, 105,770,837 203,427 



1910. . :• ; .-; 94,258,454 159,014 



1911 ■. 103,376,584 182,305 



1912 89,233,620 171,375 



1913 101,799,588 171,950 



1914 87,200,517 195,876 



*Year of colossal strike in Havana among tobacco 

 workmen. 



For the same period the exports of cigar- 

 ettes totalled 120,515,079 packs and of 

 picadura or cut tobacco, 1,459,772 kilos. 



Since the opening of the war there has been 

 stagnation as the markets of the leading 

 consuming nations of Europe were closed to 

 Cuba. 



