“Imbued by competition, cigarette manufacturers may also opt to import tobacco leaves instead of purchasing the locally grown tobacco leaves, considering that tobacco leaves grown abroad are of better quality, thus diminishing the demand for tobacco leaves produced domestically especially for the lower grade tobacco types such as Grade D, E, F-1, F-2, and R. These lower classified leaves comprise 20% to 30% of the leaves in one single stalk of cigarette,” he added.