Report: Cigar Imports Slightly Up in First Half of 2024

In the first half of 2024, the U.S. imported more premium cigars than it did during the first half of 2023, which holds the record for the highest number of premium cigars imported to the U.S.

According to a new report Cigar Association of America (CAA)—an industry trade group—the U.S. imported 191.68 million premium cigars from January-June 2024, 3 million more than it did in the first half of 2023 or an increase of around 1.6 percent. Last year, the U.S. imported 467.57 million premium cigars—a record—according to CAA.

Coincidentally, that 3 million figure is more or less the same increase in premium cigar exports for Nicaragua, the dominant producer of cigars for the American market. Per the CAA, the U.S. has imported 120.05 million premium cigars from Nicaragua, approximately 62.6 percent of all premium cigars imported to the U.S. That 120.05 million number is 3.16 million more premium cigars than the country exported to the U.S. in the first half of 2023. The Dominican Republic and Honduras continue to be the second and third largest exporters.

The most interesting part of the most recent data is that the Dominican Republic’s exports of premium cigars jumped from 29.92 million premium cigars through May to 39.57 million through June. That increase of 9.65 million in one month is nearly double the country’s average monthly exports to the U.S. As noted in the table above, the Dominican Republic’s numbers are estimated in ways that the other data is not.

An email sent to the Cigar Association of America seeking clarification of the Dominican Republic’s June number was not returned.

CAA calculates these numbers based on both the import numbers provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Customs Services and information from cigar companies themselves. The trade group’s numbers are not exact because of reporting differences; it estimates how many “large cigars” were actually “premium cigars.” The difference between the two is that there are some machine-made cigars that meet the U.S. definition of a “large cigar,” though those cigars would not be considered premium cigars by most people.