Examining Trade Flows of Key Inputs to Cigarette Manufacturing

This Report was written by Saw Min Thu Oo and Jeff Drope from Economics for Health. The report examines the trade flows of key inputs to cigarette manufacturing to better understand the global marketplace. Specifically, the authors analyze the quantity and value of imports and exports (and re-exports) of tobacco leaf, cigarette paper, cigarette filter, and tobacco manufacturing equipment. In 2024, data from the UN Comtrade shows that export and import values for these inputs reached 17.3 billion USD and 16.3 billion USD, respectively. Between 2015 and 2025, import values have declined, while exports declined only between 2019 and 2022 before recovering. In 2024, Brazil was the largest exporter of tobacco leaf, France was the largest exporter of cigarette paper, the Republic of Korea was the largest exporter of cigarette filters, and Italy was the largest exporter of tobacco processing machinery. The primary re-exporters were: United States and Malawi for tobacco leaf, United States for cigarette papers, Georgia and Canada for machinery and parts, and Georgia for cigarette filters. On the other hand, China was the largest importer of partially stripped tobacco leaf, the United States was the largest importer of cigarette paper, and Indonesia was the top importer of cigarette filters and machinery. In general, imports were more geographically widespread, compared to exports, which were more concentrated. Furthermore, China and Zimbabwe were found to be the major bilateral trading pairs for tobacco leaf, Austria and Germany for cigarette paper, the Republic of Korea and Indonesia for filters, and Germany and Hungary for tobacco machinery. The report concludes with recommendations for governments to investigate their trade flows to identify any irregularities which could suggest the presence of illicit trade.