The government is deeply committed to streamlining procedures for premium cigar producers in Honduras, stated Investment Promotion Minister Epaminondas Marinakys, who proposed formalizing a 24-month public-private action plan aimed at eliminating bureaucratic hurdles and implementing the Fast Track legal system, allowing new companies to operate immediately if they have their business analyses and environmental impact studies in order.
Speaking at the panel “The Honduran Tobacco Industry: Challenges and Opportunities” during the eighth edition of the Fuego & Barrica festival—organized by Royal Eventos in Tegucigalpa, the country’s capital—Marinakys, who also serves as Director of the National Investment Council (CNI), highlighted the impressive results recently achieved by the Honduran tobacco industry.
The Minister highlighted that in the first quarter of the year, Honduras surpassed historic competitors like the Dominican Republic in cigar export volume to the United States. “Honduras is now positioned as the second-largest exporter of premium cigars to the U.S. market, trailing only Nicaragua. Together, Nicaragua, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic account for nearly 98 percent of the North American high-end cigar market share.”
Despite these commercial achievements, Marinakys admitted that serious challenges remain for state bureaucracy to fix. Addressing widespread complaints from producers regarding slow procedures, the minister emphasized that agriculture is inherently complex, and the state should not add further obstacles to export momentum.
Therefore, he proposed a 24-month competitiveness agenda focusing on substantial improvements in three critical areas: legal certainty for investments, streamlining customs procedures in Puerto Cortés to prevent logistical delays, and training technical talent to add value to the supply chain.
“There is no way to fight poverty without generating wealth, and to generate wealth there must be sustained investment. At the CNI, we have the legal framework to apply the Fast Track system, allowing a company with its financial projections and environmental impact study in place to start operating immediately while remaining compliance processes proceed.”
