Cuba postpones annual cigar fair due to fuel shortages

Cuba’s annual cigar fair, which was set to be held the last week of February, has been postponed organisers said Saturday, as the island faces blackouts and severe fuel shortages brought about by a US oil embargo. In a statement, the cigar fair’s organiser, Habanos S.A. Said it decided to postpone the iconic event to “preserve its high standard of quality.”

Habanos S.A., a joint venture between the state-owned company Cubatabaco and international firm Altadis, holds the global monopoly on Cuban cigar sales. Every year, the company hosts the annual Habanos Festival, a key event for cigar aficionados and distributors worldwide, where attendees tour tobacco plantations, participate in auctions and witness the latest in craftsmanship.

The statement by Habanos S.A. Did not set a new date for the 26th edition of the cigar fair. Last year, the event closed with an auction in which USD 18 million was paid for a batch of highly coveted, hand rolled cigars. The company last year also reported record sales of $827 million. Several cultural events, including a book fair, have been postponed in Cuba this month as the island grapples with the most severe fuel shortages and power blackouts in years.

In late January, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country that sold oil to Cuba, as Washington puts more pressure on the island’s communist leadership to implement political and economic reforms. Cuba imports about 60 per cent of its energy supply, and had long relied on Venezuela and Mexico for much of its oil.

But shipments from Venezuela were cancelled in January following the removal of that nation’s then-president Nicolas Maduro in a US military raid, a move that also resulted in greater US oversight over Venezuela’s oil industry. Shipments from Mexico stopped in mid-February following Trump’s tariff threat.

Earlier this week, three Canadian airlines cancelled flights to Cuba after the island’s Government announced there would be no jet fuel for planes seeking to refuel at Cuba’s airports. Other airlines have maintained their flights to the island but will be refuelling their planes with stopovers in the Dominican Republic.

The fuel shortages have also hurt tourism on the island, with some agencies cancelling trips as the Government shuts down some hotels, and relocates tourists in a bid to save electricity. Tabacuba, a state-run tobacco company, lamented the postponement of this year’s cigar fair in a statement, saying it had come about due to “the complex economic situation that the nation is facing, as a result of the intensification of the economic, commercial and financial blockade” imposed by the United States.