大多数人预估的进口衰减始终没有发生，手工雪茄继续涌入美国。12月13日，美国雪茄协会发布第三季度高档雪茄进口报告，数据显示，对比2023年第三季度，美国手工雪茄进口量增长了3.8%。

到今年第三季度，美国进口的手工优质雪茄数量超过3.14亿支，去年同期是3.03亿支。这个数字令人印象深刻。3亿支是业界公认的雪茄业务良好的年份基准数字。

进口雪茄主要来自三个国家。尼加拉瓜仍然是雪茄行业的强国，今年前九个月出口到美国的数量是1.865亿支，同比增长2.8%。

多米尼加共和国是第二大雪茄生产国，出口到美国的手工雪茄是7740万支，同比增长12.9%。

洪都拉斯是第三大雪茄生产国，今年前九个月出口到美国的手工雪茄是4830万支雪茄，同比下降7%。

值得一提的是雪茄生产新军哥斯达黎加，去年前三季度出口到美国的手工雪茄是81.1万支，今年前三季度增长到200万支。

去年美国全年进口手工雪茄4.67亿支，预估如果今年的进口趋势继续保持，美国2024年的雪茄进口总量将达到4.8亿支。

Handmade, premium cigar imports continue to pour into America, and the cooling off period most people have been expecting is not happening just yet. Today the Cigar Association of America released its third-quarter report on premium cigar imports, and it showed a gain of 3.8 percent over the third quarter of 2023. 

More than 314 million premium cigars were exported to the United States in the third quarter of 2024, compared to 303 million in the same period last year. This is an impressive number. Not so long ago, imports of 300 million cigars was considered the benchmark for a good year in the cigar business.

Most of the cigars come from a trio of producers. Nicaragua remains the powerhouse of the cigar industry, and it shipped 186.5 million cigars, up 2.8 percent. The Dominican Republic, the No. 2 producer, shipped 77.4 million cigars, up 12.9 percent. Honduras, the third-largest producer, had 48.3 million cigars, down 7 percent. Costa Rica, usually a marginal producer, showed huge gains with shipments of 2 million cigars, up from only 811,000 in the third quarter of 2023.

Last year, the United States imported 467 million cigars. Should this pace be maintained, the total imports for 2024 would reach 480 million cigars.