摘要：Last November's tobacco settlement was followed by an immediate boost in wholesale cigarette prices on top of earlier increases that brought the cumulative price increase for 1998 to 50 percent. In recent months growers were hit with substantial cuts in tobacco quotas for the second year in a row, due to the double whammy of a deteriorating domestic market outlook and falling exports due to economic crisis in Asia and other overseas markets. ERS expects that higher cigarette prices and other factors could cut U.S. cigarette consumption by as much as 25 percent over the next 10 years.
