Hendrik Kelner, president of ProCigars, the association of leading cigar manufacturers in the Dominican Republic, says that the DR is the number one exporter of cigars to the United States, where it has 50% of the market share. The DR has a 40% share of the world market. He told El Dia newspaper that the US buys 75% of the world’s cigar production. The DR is producing 200 to 210 million cigars for export, and there are prospects for an increase in production this year. Kelner highlights the fact that cigars are the DR’s leading agricultural product, generating US$300 million a year. He announced that the third ProCigar Festival would take place this coming 15 to 19 February. The event starts in Casa de Campo, La Romana and continues in Santiago de los Caballeros, center of the country’s largest tobacco farms. See http://www.procigar.com