considerable domestic leaf production, Germany remains the second largest im- 
porter. It is a major market for Oriental tobaccos, United States flue-cured 
cigarette leaf, and Indonesian and Brazilian cigar leaf. The United States is 
the third largest free-world importer of tobacco, largely Oriental leaf from 
Greece and Turkey, which is used in small percentages as a flavor ingredient 
in cigarettes. Cigar leaf imports into the United States--mainly filler--are 
also fairly substantial. Cuba has been the principal source of filler imports. 
World trade in tobacco products is considerably less important than that 
in leaf, due largely to extreme protectionist policies of governments in fav- 
oring their own domestic manufacturers and labor. Cigarettes are the most im 
portant product moving in international trade, but the proportion is small 
compared with production, as most of the total world output is consumed in the 
producing countries. For example, the United States exported 20 billion ciga- 
rettes in 1960, which was only about 4 percent of the total preduced. 
UNITED STATES EXPCRTS OF UNMANUFACTURED TO8ACCO 
Unmanufactured tobacco has been one of the leading agricultural commodi- 
ties exported from the United States since the early days of the country. In 
colonial times the overseas trade in tobacco was so important that statistics 
on exports represent the only apparent record of production for the period 
from 1618 to 1788. Beginning with 20,000 pounds in 1618, exports permanently 
passed 1 million pounds in 1639; from 1664 to 1774, they ranged from 20 to 
more than 107 million; from then until 1814, they fluctuated widely, and it 
was not until 1851 that they permanently exceeded 100 million pounds. Since 
1870, exports have never fallen below 200 million pounds, and since 1899, sel- 
dom below 300, and often above 500 million pounds. In recent years, approxi- 
mately one-fourth of the total United States production has been exported. 
This volume now accounts for about 35 percent of world export trade in tobacco 
as compared with an average of around 43 percent in the 5-year period 1920-24. 
The factor of predominant influence in the tobacco industry today is the 
steadily increasing consumption of cigarettes throughout much of the world. 
Its effects are apparent, therefore, not only in the increasing production of 
cigarette types of tobacco for domestic consumption, but in exports and im 
ports of cigarette tobacco. 
Tobacco from earliest colonial times has been one of the important export 
commodities, and is now exceeded in export value among agricultural products 
only by cotton and wheat, but the character of tobacco exported has undergone 
great change. Of the types of tobacco that enter into the domestic export 
trade, fire-cured probably led in production and exports during the 19th cen- 
tury and until about 1918. At about that time world consumption of cigarettes 
was making an extraordinary expansion. As a result, flue-cured tobacco in- 
creased rapidly in production and exports, whereas fire-cured entered into a 
decline that has continued almost without interruption up to the present time. 
The United Kingdom is the leading export outlet for United States unmanu- 
factured tobacco, but the total quantity and the percentage of total exports 
going to this country have declined in recent years. In addition to the United 
Kingdom, other important importers are the continental countries of Western 
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