Middle-class creates red-hot market for cigars

Sales of Cuban cigars are rising in China thanks to a burgeoning middle-class who are wealthier and more concerned about quality of life.

Habanos SA, the global tobacco distributor that controls Cuba's cigar industry, said China is now its third-largest market after Spain and France - and it still has significant growth potential.

The company, which started selling its products in China in 2000, exported 300,000 units of cigars to the country in 2014, up by 9 percent on 2013. The rise in Chinese outbound tourists means more are buying the cigars abroad, too.