Leaf Prices Still on The Rise in India

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 09/24/2009

Just three weeks after the start of auction sales in Karnataka on September 2, with two million kg of flue-cured sold, the average price stood at Rs112.69 per kg, higher than the record average for last season, Rs109.71 per kg, according to a rediff.com story quoting a senior official with the Tobacco Board. In recent seasons, prices in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been playing leapfrog with the average price in Andhra in the 2008/09 season reaching Rs103.39 per kg earlier this year. Nevertheless, India has said that it is committed to reducing leaf tobacco production in line with its requirements under the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dinesh Trivedi, said last week that there was a need to concentrate on finding alternative employment for the millions of farmers and cottage industry workers who were engaged in tobacco related activities. Enditem