The Nicaraguan Chamber of Tobacco (CNT) last week elected their new board of directors for the next two years. Manuel Ernesto Rubio Centeno, Operations Manager of Drew Estate, was elected as the new president of the Chamber, replacing Claudio Sgroi.
By decision of its 25 members, the Chamber agreed to cancel the 2022 International Tobacco Festival Puro Sabor, scheduled for January of this year. This was the second time under Sgroi’s mandate that the festival was affected. However, the Chamber held a successful, entirely virtual, festival in 2021.
For Manuel Rubio, one of the challenges the Chamber will face in 2022 is “to sustain the growth rate of our industry, exceeding 10% per year”, for which they must work on “reducing migration and personnel turnover.”
The other positions of the new board of directors are:
Eduardo Sandino Aguilar, from Tabacalera Oliva de Estelí S.A., was elected vice- president;
Víctor Calvo Guerrero, from Tabacalera Tambor S.A., was elected secretary;
The new treasurer is Doña Carmen Vázquez, from Estelí Cigars S.A.;
The first member is Néstor Andrés Plasencia, from Plasencia Cigars S.A.;
The second member is Ariath Zeledón, from Scandinavian Tobacco Group Estelí S.A.,
and the third member is Sancho Oset, from Cigar Rings S.A..
The premium tobacco industry in Nicaragua employs more than 40,000 people. The Nicaraguan Chamber of Tobacco is an organization established in 2008 that represents the interests of the most important tobacco and cigar producers in Nicaragua. Its 25 members represent 95% of the entire national production of tobacco and cigars.
