CONTENTS 



Page 



Highlights iii 



Introduction 1 



Production Trends 1 



General Economic Trends 3 



Analysis of Acreage Changes 7 



Cigar Filler Acreage Changes 7 



Cigar Binder Acreage Changes 7 



Cigar Wrapper Acreage Changes 10 



Acreage Prospects 13 



Literature Cited 15 



HIGHLIGHTS 



General economic trends, rising imports, consumer preferences for smaller, 

 thinner, filter-tipped cigars, and the increasing use of reconstituted sheet tobacco 

 have led to a decline in cigar leaf tobacco acreage. 



During 1950-71, acreage declined by about two-thirds, from 100,000 to 37,000 

 acres. This downward trend, which has been underway since theboom of cigar sales 

 in the 1920's,is expected to continue. 



Regression analyses of acreage changes during 1957-71 show that the farm 

 tobacco price-wage ratio and trend explained most of the year-to-year changes. For 

 the three cigar leaf types, the regression equations accounted for the following 

 percentages of annual acreage variation: 98 percent for filler and binder and 91 

 percent for wrapper. 



In each of the seven States producing cigar leaf tobacco, farm wages more than 

 doubled from 1950 to 1971. Tobacco price rises, however, did not keep pace. Also, in 

 six of the States, farm employment declined. 



in 



