过去三年，美国的手工雪茄进口量一直保持增长。今年一季度的数据已经出炉，出人意料，数字下降。美国雪茄协会公布的数据显示，美国2023年一季度的手工雪茄进口量为9550万支，同比下降8.8%，2022年一季度这个数字是1.047亿支。

三个主要雪茄生产国的进口量都出现了下降。下降最严重的是多米尼加共和国。多米尼加一季度出口到美国的手工雪茄是2330万支，同比下降17.1%。洪都拉斯的出口到美国的雪茄是1590万支，同比下降10.7%。尼加拉瓜的出口量是5610万支，下降了4.2%。

在美国一季度的雪茄进口量中，尼加拉瓜生产的雪茄占58.7%，多米尼加占24.4%，洪都拉斯占16.6%，这三个国家合计占美国一季度进口总量的99.7%。

一季度雪茄进口总量下降，有可能是2022年3月份当月美国进口数据太亮眼，最近八年内表现最好的3月份。去年3月，美国手工雪茄进口数量是4760万支，对比2021年3月的3640万支，以及2023年3月的3780万支。

即使这是美国经济放缓的一个迹象，也不意外。毕竟过去三年，美国手工雪茄进口量一直持续增长。整个新冠疫情期间，老茄客抽的更多，新人也进入雪茄市场，这个时期被媒体称为“新雪茄热潮”。

2021年是美国现代雪茄行业有史以来最好的一年，手工雪茄进口量达到4.56亿支，创下了1997年以来的最高记录。而2022年，进口量更是达到了4.645亿支。

今年到目前为止，只公布了一季度的数据，今年会是什么样的一年，还有很长的路要走。

Shipments of premium, handmade cigars grew for the past three years. Now, the first data for the year 2023 has come in, and the numbers have decreased. Shipments of handmade cigars for the first quarter of 2023 are down 8.8 percent when compared to the same period in 2022, according to data provided by the Cigar Association of America. Through March, 95.5 million premium cigars were shipped to the United States, compared to 104.7 for the first three months of 2022.

The three major cigar-producing countries all showed a decrease, but the decline was most severe for shipments from the Dominican Republic, the No. 2 exporter of cigars to the United States. Shipments from the Dominican Republic were down 17.1 percent, to 23.3 million handmade cigars. Shipments from Honduras, the third largest exporter, were down 10.7 percent in the first quarter, to 15.9 million cigars. Nicaragua, the leading cigar producer, had a 4.2 percent decline, shipping 56.1 million cigars.

Nicaragua accounted for 58.7 percent of first-quarter shipments, the Dominican Republic shipped 24.4 percent and Honduras shipped 16.6 percent. The trio accounts for 99.7 percent of the handmade cigars shipped to the United States. 

Digging deeper, the first quarter report was impacted by an abnormally busy March 2022, which was the busiest March by far in at least eight years. There were 47.6 million premium cigars shipped in March 2022, compared to 36.4 million in March 2021, and 37.8 million in March 2023.

Even if this is the first sign of a slowdown, the decrease is not unexpected. Handmade cigar imports have been growing continuously for the past three years, and grew at impressive rates throughout the pandemic as seasoned cigar lovers smoked more and new cigar lovers entered the market, a time dubbed the “new cigar boom.”

The year 2021 was one of the best ever recorded in the modern-day cigar industry, with premium, handmade imports soaring 25.3 percent over 2020 numbers, to 456 million cigars, a number not seen since 1997. Imports grew by 2.3 percent in 2022, to 464.5 million cigars.

It wasn’t long ago when 300 million imported cigars was the barometer for a good year in the cigar business. With only one quarter recorded for 2023 so far, there’s a long way to go before we know what kind of year this will be.