Export of US Cigarettes Declines

WASHINGTON—The number of cigarettes exported annually from the United States has declined by 25%, according to the Agriculture Department. Exports fell from 201.3 billion cigarettes in 1998 to 151.4 billion in 1999.

Experts say the decline is due not only to people overseas smoking less, primarily the result of higher prices triggered by tax increases, but also to a shift in the production of cigarettes by the tobacco industry from the United States to other countries.