Cigar Imports To The U.S. Down Slightly Through August
The 2023 cigar market is continuing its trend of somewhat slower imports. The August numbers have just been released by the Cigar Association of America, and handmade cigar imports to the United States were down 4 percent compared to August 2022. For the first eight months of the year, imports are down 3.2 percent.
Despite the small decrease, this isn’t shaping up to be a bad year. Through August, 298.4 million handmade cigars were shipped to the United States, close to the magic 300-million-unit mark that once was the measuring stick for a banner year. In 2022, 464 million handmade cigars were imported by the United States.
Nicaragua, the leading exporter of premium cigars to the U.S., saw shipments down 2.8 percent for the first eight months of the year, to 162 million cigars. The Dominican Republic was the only nation to have an increase, with shipments up 3.5 percent, to 88.9 million. Honduras, the third-place producer, had a steep decline of 15.2 percent, to 46.1 million cigars.
There are quite a few months of data still left to report—including the busiest months of the year, the upcoming holidays—so it’s far too early to know where the year will end up. If current trends continue, and 2023 ends at the current pace, down 3.2 percent, we would have a year with just shy of 450 million cigars imported.
