pounds (kilograms) of the different products were 

 manufactured: chewing tobacco, 90 million 

 pounds (41 million); smoking tobacco, 41 million 

 (19 million); and snuff, 25 million (11 million). 



IX. INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION 

 AND TRADE 



Tobacco is produced and consumed in 

 practically every country and is an important 

 international trade item. World production was 

 over 12 billion pounds (5.4 billion kilograms) in 

 1977; world exports were 2.8 billion pounds (1.3 

 billion kilograms). The People's Republic of 

 China is believed to be the leading producer with 

 output of nearly 2.2 billion pounds (1 billion 

 kilograms). The United States follows closely 

 with 2.0 billion pounds (0.9 billion kilograms) of 

 production. Other important producing countries 

 include Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, 

 Greece, India, Italy, Japan, the Philippines, 

 Poland, Rhodesia, South Korea, Turkey, and the 

 USSR. Most producing countries grow more than 

 one type of leaf, and many supplement domestic 

 production with imports of complementary types 

 for blending in products to satisfy consumer 

 tastes. 



Over the years, changes in international trade 

 in tobacco have reflected changes in consumer 

 preferences for different types of manufactured 

 tobacco products. The popularity of snuffing in 

 the 1 8th century gave way to pipe and cigar smok- 

 ing which, in turn, gave way to strong and 

 continuing preference for cigarettes. The de- 

 mand for leaf tobacco shifted accordingly from 

 dark tobacccos in earlieryears to flue-cured, light 

 air-cured, and oriental types for use in cigarettes 

 in more recent years. Today these light cigarette 

 leaf types account for more than two-thirds of 

 world tobacco production and trade. 



International trade in tobacco is affected by 

 governmental policies and institutions. Govern- 

 ment tobacco monopolies, State trading, import 

 duties and quotas, restrictions upon the use of 

 foreign exchange, bilateral and/or preferential 

 trade agreements, export subsidies, "mixing" 

 regulations, internal taxes and customs unions, 

 such as the European Economic Community all 

 have a direct, and sometimes restrictive, effect on 

 tobacco trade. 



The United States, throughout its history, has 

 been the world's most important tobacco 

 producer and exporter. About one-third of U.S. 

 production moves into the export market. The 

 major portion of this leaf is high-quality flue- 

 cured and burley tobacco for manufacturing 

 American-type blended cigarettes. 



The United States currently is one of the largest 



24 



Tobacco samples for a prospective buyer are obtained by 

 "breaking" a hogshead of tobacco. 



leaf tobacco importers, taking about 1 1 percent of 

 world leaf imports. The nine countries of the 

 European Community take over 40 percent of the 

 total world imports. 



World trade in manufactured tobacco products 

 is considerably less important than trade in leaf. 

 The protectionist trade policies of most countries 

 favor domestic tobacco manufacturing industries. 

 Cigarettes are the most important tobacco 

 product in international trade, but cigarette trade 

 volume is small in comparison with total cigarette 

 production and consumption. Five countries- 

 Bulgaria, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the 

 United States, and West Germany— supply more 

 than three-fourths of world cigarette exports. 



The predominant factor influencing the world 

 tobacco industry today is the steadily increasing 

 output of cigarettes, particularly American-type 

 blends, throughout much of the world. The 

 effects of this trend are apparent in the increasing 

 production, trade and consumption of cigarette- 

 type tobaccos. 



U.S. Exports of Unmanufactured 

 Tobacco 



Tobacco has been one of the United States' 

 most important agricultural export commodities 

 since earliest colonial times. The overseas trade 

 in tobacco was of such importance that export 

 statistics represented the only apparent record 

 of production from 1618 to 1788. Since 1870, 

 tobacco exports have never fallen below 200 

 million pounds (90.7 million kilograms) annually 

 and often have been above 500 million pounds 

 (226.8 million kilograms). 



The total value of United States unmanufac- 

 tured leaf and products exported in 1977 was$1.7 

 billion, making a significant contribution to the 

 U.S. balance of trade. 



