São Paulo – The São Paulo-based cigar manufacturing company Siboney has just signed representation contracts to take its brand to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The company had been in touch with importers from these countries and closed the partnership deals at the Inter-tabac fair, held in September in Germany.
Siboney makes handmade cigars of the filler variety, in which a whole tobacco leave is used, and medium filler, in which half a leave is used. Presently, the company has a production capacity of 200,000 cigars per month; however, foreign orders are creating demand for an increase in output.
“We are expanding our manufacturing plant due to the new countries [that the company is selling to],” explains Eduardo Pitombo, the Siboney sales and marketing director. “We are likely to reach 350,000 cigars per month in the very short term,” he says.
Before the fair, Siboney already exported to Canada, Hong Kong and United States. During the event, the company also closed deals with Argentina, Turkey, Germany, Poland, Croatia, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
According to Pitombo, the Arab countries which consume the most cigars are Algeria, Egypt and Emirates – the latter mostly due to tourists. “There is space for plenty of growth,” says the executive regarding business in the region. “You must be on the foreign market. You cannot just depend on one market,” he says. The first batch to Arab countries will be shipped to Egypt, comprising 25,000 cigars.
The Siboney director says the company prepared itself thoroughly before investing in foreign customers. “We planned our production and the leaf quality selection process. Our product has excellent quality, extremely unique packaging, and pricing,” he says.
Siboney was established in 2004 by a Cuban, who remains responsible for raw material selection until this day. To ensure the quality of its tobacco leaves, the company imports from countries such as Nicaragua, Honduras and Ecuador.
According to Pitombo, the Brazilian cigar industry comprises several companies and is growing. The main foreign competitors are Cuba and the Dominican Republic. In terms of target markets, Spain is the leading cigar-consuming country in Europe, followed by Germany, France and Portugal.
The cigars
The production line at Siboney includes 40 rollers, i.e. employees who craft handmade cigars. According to Pitombo, in order to guarantee product quality, each roller produces no more than 300 units per day.
Cigars vary in quality, size, and burning time. The “Robusto” type takes 35 minutes, “Torpedo” takes 40 minutes, and the “Corona Gorda,” from 35 to 40 minutes. The company has also created a cigar called “25 minutes.” “It is meant for people to enjoy the cigar without having to worry whether they’ll have time to finish it,” Pitombo explains.
The long filler cigar, considered a premium variety, costs R$ 20 each on average, and each box contains ten cigars. The medium filler cigars cost around R$ 7 a unit.
The Siboney plant is in Itatiba and the administrative office is in São Paulo. The company has a total of 58 employees.
Contact
Siboney
Tel.: +55 11 2645-6450
Email: eduardo.pitombo@siboney.com.br
Website: www.siboney.com.br
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
