U.S. Tobacco Production, Consumption, and Export Trends

Publication Date: June 2003

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Trade

Type:

Abstract:

Examination of historical tobacco data reveals a declining long-term trend in the utilization of tobacco by U.S. manufacturers and leaf exporters. While world tobacco exports increased over the past two decades, U.S. leaf tobacco exports declined in relative and absolute terms. Cigarette manufacturers have been increasing the use of less expensive foreign tobacco and decreasing the use of more costly U.S.-grown tobacco. Now, actions taken as a result of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between cigarette manufacturers and states' attorneys general are further diminishing the consumption of tobacco products in the United States. Cigarette exports also have been declining recently in contrast to a history of growth.