2022 Imports Off To Decent Start
The ultra-hot handmade cigar market continues to show signs of growth. January 2022 imports, released today by the Cigar Association of America, showed 3.8 percent growth over last January. Just over 21 million handmade cigars were shipped to the United States in January, compared to 20.6 million in January 2021.
Nicaragua, which continues in the No. 1 spot, showed strong growth of 19 percent, with 14.7 million cigars shipped in January, 2022. That’s 68 percent of total shipments.
Honduras also showed a big increase, up 33 percent to 3.2 million units.
The Dominican Republic had a steep decline, down 40 percent, from 5.6 million to 3.3 million, likely a hangover effect from the holiday closures of factories that begin in December. Getting back to normal production isn’t always a quick (or effortless) process. Staffing cigar factories has been a problem, according to cigarmakers, particularly cigarmakers in the Dominican Republic, and shipping cigars (like so many other products) remains problematic. One month can never tell the full story.
Last year was one of the best ever seen for the handmade cigar industry, with 456 million premium cigars shipped to the United States, up 25.5 percent. The last time imports exceeded 400 million units was in 1997.
