M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
Tobacco industry - statistics & facts
The global tobacco industry produced almost six million metric tons of tobacco in 2022. The leading producer of tobacco worldwide is China, which produced over a third of the global amount in 2022. Other major producers were Brazil and India. The leading tobacco company worldwide was the British American Tobacco, generating over 34 billion U.S. dollars in net sales in 2022. With just over 31.8 billion U.S. dollars in sales, Philip Morris International was the second leader among tobacco companies around the world that year.
Tobacco production in the U.S.
The United States is among the world’s largest producer of tobacco. In 2023, its production volume was under half a million pounds with a value of over one billion U.S. dollars. The total area of harvested tobacco included some 187.6 thousand acres in 2023 and the leading U.S. state in tobacco production has been North Carolina since 2020.Tobacco industry in Brazil
In 2022, the leading country of unmanufactured tobacco by export value was Brazil. That year, Brazil generated approximately 2.23 billion U.S. dollars in unmanufactured tobacco trade sales. Processed tobacco leaves are the main product exported by the South American country, adding up to more than 2.4 billion dollars that year, or above 80 percent of the sector's export value. In 2022, the production of tobacco in Brazil reached the value of 8.5 billion Brazilian reals. In comparison to the previous year, when the revenue amounted to 6.8 billion, this represented an increase of nearly 25 percent. Tobacco accounted for one percent of the agricultural production value in Brazil that year.
