Canada's Delhi Auctions Go Under the Hammer

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 07/22/2009

The final curtain will start coming down this week on Canada's tobacco auctions with the sale of the tools, equipment and furnishings from the auction exchange at Delhi, according to a report in The Simcoe Reformer, relayed by Tobacco China Online. Once these items have been sold, attention will shift to the exchange's real estate. Earlier this year, the federal government bought out 271 million pounds of tobacco quota at $1.05 a pound, which marked the demise of the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board as a marketing agency. Once the board's assets have been sold by the interim board that was installed at the beginning of June, former quota holders will be entitled to a share of the proceeds based on the total amount of their poundage. They will have the option also of pooling their share into a collective undertaking. The former tobacco belt is said to have potential as a producer of biomass for the production of clean electricity. In 1974, the high-water mark for tobacco production in south-central Ontario, 238 million pounds of leaf were sold at auction exchanges in Tillsonburg, Aylmer and Delhi. This year, 22 million pounds are being grown by 118 licensees under contract to manufacturers. Enditem