Filenews 6 April 2025 - by Charalambos Zakos
A shortage of cigars and especially cigarillos has been observed recently in the Cypriot market. However, the problem for consumers of these products is in the process of being solved, according to industry professionals who spoke to "F".
Cigarillos lovers, especially in the last month, have found themselves in front of empty shelves at points of sale, searching everywhere for their favourite brand. In fact, as they reported to "F", due to the shortage, they were forced to diversify their preferences, however, after a few days they found that the stock of these brands had been exhausted almost everywhere.
They were calling to book cigars
The references to "F" from tobacco sellers are indicative. Characteristically, they told our newspaper that a number of customers called them to ask if there were any products available to keep them. In fact, as they added, new customers were found in their premises, who had reported to them that they were looking for the specific tobacco products, since they had run out of the stores from which they used to buy them.
How the problem arose
Investigating the issue, we found that the problem with the shortage of these tobacco products was the result of two factors.
The first reason concerned changes that the European Union had decided. The EU had promoted the traceability of tobacco products. Since 2020, these changes have concerned cigarettes, while since last year, cigars and cigarillos have been included in these new provisions. Based on these changes, their packaging had to bear a special marking (different in each package), which must be scanned at each transaction.
The second factor had to do with the limited production in Cuba, where most of the cigars in Cyprus come from.
However, the above seems to have been resolved. In fact, as "F" is informed, in the previous period there were large imports of these products, which from Monday will be on the shelves of all points of sale.
Imports worth 50 million euros euro
According to the data of the Statistical Service analyzed by "F", in 2024, more than 180,000 kilos of cigars and cigarillos were imported into Cyprus, with a value of more than €52 million from 16 countries. However, it should be emphasized that these quantities are not all distributed within Cyprus, since the Limassol-based company that imports them to the island re-exports large quantities to other markets.
As for the countries from which Cyprus imports, Cuba is the first in the table, from which the vast majority comes, both in value and in kilograms, since out of a total of €52 million and 180,000 kilograms, €41 million and 94,000 kilograms concern Cuban cigars.
More specifically, the top 5 of the importing countries are:
1/ Cuba: €41,601,473 and 94,268 Kg
2/ Nicaragua: €3,045,541 and 20,642 Kg
3/ Germany: €2,553,659 and 18,174 Kg
4/ Spain: €1,999,584 and 11,652 Kg
5/ Italy: €1,887,449 and 17,115 Kg
The remaining countries are the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Costa Rica, the United States, Honduras, Hungary, Denmark, Slovakia, Switzerland, and Panama.
