HAVANA, October 22 (RIA Novosti) - Cuban rum producers intend to increase supplies to Russia to more than a million liters a year, a vice-president of a Cuban rum producing company said.

Cuba's current rum exports to Russia total some 30,000-50,000 boxes (270,000-450,000 liters) a year.

"Trade perspectives in Russia are promising," Juan Gonzalez, head of the Cuba Ron company, said. "Our products have a potentially large market in Russia, and we are taking steps to develop this direction [of trade]."

He added that Cuban rum producers hoped to export to Russia "hundreds of thousands of boxes" of rum in the near future.

"Supplies will certainly increase, due to the high quality of Cuban rum, familiar to the Russian consumer," he said.

According to Gonzalez, Cuba annually exports some 4 million boxes (36 million liters) of rum, including 3.4 million (30.6 million liters) of Havana Club rum, to more than 120 countries.

However, Cuban rum is not exported to the neighboring U.S., due to Washington's trade embargo on the Caribbean island. Cuban rum producers lose about $95 million annually due to the embargo, Gonzalez said.