Lebanon to Increase Prices of Tobacco to Help Farmers

Source from:  Daily Star 10/20/2011

BEIRUT: The Finance Ministry and tobacco farmers announced plans Wednesday to raise the prices of tobacco in an attempt to alleviate the economic burdens on the growers. The announcement came after a meeting between Finance Minister Mohamed Safadi and a delegation of tobacco farmers. "Minister Safadi showed his readiness to improve the tobacco industry in addition to supporting farmers following the damage inflicted during the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon," said Hassan Fakih, head of the tobacco farmers syndicate in the south. Abdel Hamid Sakr, head of the tobacco farmers association in the North, gave an overview of the new prices. He said that the price of 1 kilogram of good quality of tobacco was set at LL17,700 instead of LL15,950, while the medium quality tobacco will be sold at LL12,600 instead of LL11,550 and the low quality tobacco will be priced at LL4,850 instead of LL4,500. "We wanted to increase our prices further but Safadi said the ministry cannot afford more increases," Sakr added. Separately, Safadi met with a delegation from the World Bank who discussed social development programs and the second phase of the national program for targeting poverty. Enditem