Cuban government raises prices on cigarettes and tobacco

The Cuban regime will increase, starting this Friday, April 12, the price of cigarettes and tobacco in the national network of rationalized sales establishments, that is, warehouses and stores, because “it is not a basic consumption for the population.”

TheResolution 63 of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, published in the Official Gazette, made public the measure that establishes the increase in the costs of packs of the different assortments of cigarettes and tobacco for national consumption.

In a press conference, the Minister of Finance and Prices,Vladimir Regueiro Ale, saidPacks of 20 black cigarettes from the Criollo, Titanes and Popular brands will cost 30 Cuban pesos (CUP)., likethe pack of 20 blond cigars, Aroma brand, according to the official portalCubadebate.

Meanwhile, he assured thatThe new price of black cigarettes with “Popular Auténtico” filter will be 60 pesos. While,The short black ones without filter from the H. Upman Clásico brand will cost 50 CUP andTobacco national consumption 10 pesos each unit.

To justify this increase in the value of the aforementioned products, Regueiro Ale argued that “With current prices, it is not possible to cover all the costs and expenses related to the production, industrial processing and marketing of both products.”.

He also said that with the measure they seek to contribute “to the reduction of the fiscal deficit in our country, since with the update of prices, new financial resources can be mobilized from the state budget in order to support the social expenses of priority sectors such as education, health, sports and culture that account for approximately 63% of all budgetary expenditures.”

However, in this scenario of rising prices, the supply is not guaranteed for consumers of these products, according to the Minister of Internal Trade.Betsy Diaz Velazquez, present at the same conference.

“Tomorrow we will have a presence level of around 30% of the network, but not in the more than 12 thousand wineries. Distribution is a gradual process in correspondence with production,” stated the state official.

Likewise, he agreed to remember that “these products are not part of the regulated family basket, however, due to the shortage and hoarding that occurred in 2022, they were incorporated into the network of wineries in a controlled manner for those over 18 years of age.” .

The regime, which likes to rationalize everything, has since limited distribution to only four packs per month per person over 18 years of age, in a distribution cycle every seven days. However, not even with this rationalization do they manage to meet the demand for the product.

“We haven't always managed to make this happen every month. The cigarette that begins to be marketed corresponds to the month of April, after closing the previous cycle,” said Minister Díaz Velázquez, ensuring that products from one month should not coexist in the warehouses with the others, nor should both prices coexist in the warehouses.

Cuba needs around 34 million packs of cigarettes to guarantee four packs per capita and 12 million packs of tobacco per month to meet the demand..

These price increases are part of thepackage of measures with increased costs and taxes on basic services such as water, gas, transportation and energy, among others, which the regime has gradually put into practice.

The first item to be affected was fuel, reaching an increase of more than 500% as of last March 1.