GUNTUR, SEPT. 25:
Tobacco exports from the country started on a hopeful note during the current financial year and in the first quarter 82,540 tonnes of tobacco worth Rs 1,710.26 crore was exported, according to Tobacco Board sources here.
Till the end of June, 73,363 tonnes of leaf tobacco valued at Rs 1,396.47 crore and tobacco products of 9,177 tonnes valued at Rs 313.79 crore were exported from the country during the current financial year. Tobacco is exported to 100 countries from India.
During 2012-13
tobacco exports from the country amounted to Rs 4,979.05 crore, with leaf tobacco accounting for Rs 3,831.84 crore and tobacco products Rs 1,147.21 crore, with the quantities being 2,28,023 tonnes and 35,552 tonnes respectively.
During the previous year (2011-12), tobacco exports fetched Rs 4,100.30 crore with leaf tobacco accounting for Rs 3,090.21 crore and tobacco products Rs 1,010.09 crore, with the quantities being 2,03,294 tonnes and 37,101 tonnes respectively.
Top export destinations for leaf tobacco during 2012-13 in value terms were Belgium, Russia, Korea, the UAE, the USA, Indonesia, Egypt, the Netherlands, South Africa and France. Of the leaf tobacco exports from the country, flue-cured virginia (FCV) tobacco accounts for 76 per cent of volume and 83 per cent of value.
Tobacco Board Chairman K. Gopal has urged farmers in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, the two main producers of FCV tobacco, to limit the production to the size fixed by the board to realise a better price on the auction floor.
