Tobacco

Cured leaf of a nightshade plant, grown mainly in China, India and Brazil, and traded through leaf merchants rather than exchanges.

Softs · No. 102

• Not on a critical list
• HHI 1,738 · moderately concentrated

Tobacco once made up nearly half of Malawi's exports, an extreme example of a whole country hanging on one leaf.

Chart: Illustration: Tobacco

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Tobacco is an annual crop sown in seedbeds and transplanted, from southern China to Malawi. Growers snap off the flower to push growth into the leaves. Output was 6.05 Mt in 2024.

Three things to know

1. World tobacco output in 2024, 6.05 million tonnes, was lower than in 1990, when it was 7.14 million tonnes.
2. China grew 37.3% of the world's tobacco in 2024 yet was also the largest importer, with 18.1% of import value.
3. Tobacco's supply chain emitted about 84 Mt CO2e in 2014, about 13.5 g per cigarette.

The journey

1. 1 SeedlingsRaised in beds, then transplanted
2. 2 ToppingFlower removed, ripe leaves picked
3. 3 CuringFlue, air or sun cured in barns
4. 4 SaleGraded bales sold at auction or contract
5. 5 RedryingThreshed and redried by leaf merchants
6. 6 ManufactureAged, blended and made into cigarettes

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