Australian Leaf Industry in Death Throes

Source from:  tobaccoreporter.com Wednesday, September 27, 2006 09/30/2006

Australian tobacco growers in Victoria say their industry is on its deathbed now that their main buyer, British American Tobacco, is set to pull out of the local leaf market by the end of 2008, according to an ABC report. BAT would buy cheaper tobacco from abroad while offering its 138 Australian growers a $10 million compensation package, the report said. John Muraca, of the Tobacco Co-operative of Victoria, who said growers had been told their crops were too expensive, admitted that labor cost differentials between Australia and many other countries growing tobacco were such that it was not possible to be competitive. Enditem