Tobacco Industry

Tobacco, plant grown commercially for its leaves and stems, which are rolled into cigars, shredded for use in cigarettes and pipes, processed for chewing, or ground into snuff, a fine powder that is inhaled through the nose. Tobacco is the source of nicotine, an addictive drug that is also the basis for many insecticides

Approximately 7 million tons of commercial tobacco are grown each year, with a value of $39 billion. Leading tobacco-growing countries are China, the United States, India, Brazil, Turkey, and Zimbabwe.

Tobacco is an economically important crop for many nations—about 2 million tons of unmanufactured tobacco leaf, at a value of about $6,500 per ton, are exported each year worldwide.

Brazil leads in exports, with about 15 percent of the total, followed closely by the United States, with about 11 percent of the total. The United States exports the most cigarettes and other manufactured tobacco products.

Of the approximately 635 billion cigarettes made in the United States in 1999, about one-fourth were exported.