- 17 - 



Cuba furnishes the United States stemmed and unstemmed cigar filler, 

 scrap, and unstemmed cigar -wrapper. Imports for consumption in spec ill e 

 iods were as follows (declared weight): 









1950-5^ 

 average 



Million 

 pounds 



1955-59 

 average 



Million 

 pounds 



i960 



Lllion 



pounds 



January- 



lllion 









Stemmed filler 

 Unstemmed filler 

 Scrap 

 Wrapper 



10.2 



k.2 



7.6 



.h 



9.0 



3.7 



12.6 



•5 



7.0 



U.o 



13.8 

 .6 



k.9 



2.7 

 • 



.u 



Total 







22. k 



25.8 



25.^ 



17.9 



15.0 









Million 

 dollars 



Million 

 dollars 



Million 



dollars 



Million 

 dollars 



Million 



dollars 



Total value 



26.1 



25.8 



26.6 



18. k 



15.7 



Except for the cigar wrapper imported from Indonesia, the average value 

 per pound of tobacco imported from Cuba averages higher than for tobacco ii - 

 ported from any other source. In i960, for example, the Cuban stemmed filler 

 imported for consumption had an average value of $1.5^- a pound, unstemmed filler, 

 $1.23, and scrap $0.555 — all exclusive of duty. The average value of the Zubazi 

 filler imports was k to 5 times that of filler tobacco imported from the 

 Philippines, while the average value of scrap was almost double that of scr 

 imported from the Philippines and about 75 percent higher than scrap comi 

 from Peru. The substantially higher average values per pound attest to the 

 unique place in U. S. cigar manufacture occupied by Cuban cigar tol 



In view of Cuba's traditional position as the leading supplier of - 

 tobacco imported into the United States, a discussion of cigar-leaf prod - : 

 and utilization in that country follows. 



Production 



Except for a relatively small quantity of flue-cured and burle;- 

 (estimated at around h million pounds in 1959), tobacco grown in C - : 

 of cigar-type tobacco for wrappers, binders, and fillers. Productic: he 

 1930' s and 19^0' s varied widely because the depression and wartime cc 

 affected exports; annual output ranged between 35 million and 83 mil' 

 in the 1930-39 period, and between U2 million and 85 million pounds I 

 19^0-^9 • Since 1950, however, production r.orrov'; . 



from 80 million to 110 million pounds. Production has exceeded 

 pounds each year since 195^> averaging 108 million pounds in 19J - . The 

 output is estimated at 109 million pounds. 



