Los Angeles, December 14 – This will not come as a shock to some of you, but the U.S. Government can’t count.
Cigar import statistics compiled by the Cigar Association of America (CAA) from data compiled by the Foreign Trade Division of the Bureau of the Census continue to be way off for the year. The current data describes a cigar free-fall in which premium cigar imports are down by 26% for the first nine months of the year. Yet, the cigar-selling giants such as Altadis U.S.A., Davidoff and Swedish Match all report robust sales in 2006.
The CAA noted that “we believe the data on imports from the Dominican Republic as reported by the government is seriously understated by 25 million (30 million for the first six months alone.) We have notified the FTD - Foreign Trade Division and we are awaiting their response.”
As it is, the figures for September show a drop of 22.5% in premium cigar imports to the U.S. to go along with the 26% annual decline in 2006, all directly related to the figures from the Dominican Republic.
Imports from the other two big exporters to the U.S. – Honduras and Nicaragua – continued to be strong:
• Honduran imports were way up in September over 2005 by 20% and for the year are now ahead of 2005 just slightly by 2% to 61.57 million.
• Nicaraguan imports were down in September by 22% against 2005 but are still ahead for the year (nine months) by 3%, at 38.4 million.
Almost no other country has any share of the U.S. market. The next largest exporter to the U.S. is Mexico, but with only 106,000 cigars coming in during September, it’s barely noticeable.
After the CAA received revised figures for cigar imports from 1997-2005, it’s apparent that after the end of the Cigar Boom in late 1998, imports dropped off significantly only in 1999 and 2000 and began rebounding strongly after that. A tiny increase in 2000 was the calm before strong gains in imports in 2001 and 2002, a flat year in 2003 and a rush past 300 million in 2004 and up to 320 million in 2005. No one knows where 2006 will turn out . . . because no one has an accurate count!
Cigar import statistics compiled by the Cigar Association of America (CAA) from data compiled by the Foreign Trade Division of the Bureau of the Census continue to be way off for the year. The current data describes a cigar free-fall in which premium cigar imports are down by 26% for the first nine months of the year. Yet, the cigar-selling giants such as Altadis U.S.A., Davidoff and Swedish Match all report robust sales in 2006.
The CAA noted that “we believe the data on imports from the Dominican Republic as reported by the government is seriously understated by 25 million (30 million for the first six months alone.) We have notified the FTD - Foreign Trade Division and we are awaiting their response.”
As it is, the figures for September show a drop of 22.5% in premium cigar imports to the U.S. to go along with the 26% annual decline in 2006, all directly related to the figures from the Dominican Republic.
Imports from the other two big exporters to the U.S. – Honduras and Nicaragua – continued to be strong:
• Honduran imports were way up in September over 2005 by 20% and for the year are now ahead of 2005 just slightly by 2% to 61.57 million.
• Nicaraguan imports were down in September by 22% against 2005 but are still ahead for the year (nine months) by 3%, at 38.4 million.
Almost no other country has any share of the U.S. market. The next largest exporter to the U.S. is Mexico, but with only 106,000 cigars coming in during September, it’s barely noticeable.
After the CAA received revised figures for cigar imports from 1997-2005, it’s apparent that after the end of the Cigar Boom in late 1998, imports dropped off significantly only in 1999 and 2000 and began rebounding strongly after that. A tiny increase in 2000 was the calm before strong gains in imports in 2001 and 2002, a flat year in 2003 and a rush past 300 million in 2004 and up to 320 million in 2005. No one knows where 2006 will turn out . . . because no one has an accurate count!
