Tobacco Production Seen Remaining Flat

Source from:  The Manila Times 04/09/2012

PHILIPPINE tobacco production will remain flat this year with continuous rains offsetting the expected increase in harvest, the National Tobacco Administration (NTA) said on Monday. In an interview, NTA administrator Edgardo Zaragoza said that they expect tobacco production to reach almost 80 million kilos for the crop year 2011-2012 as the weather remained unfavorable to farmers, particularly in the Ilocos region. "The harvest season was also delayed by almost a month due to changes in weather in the Ilocos region. But we remained hopeful that we will hit 80 million kilos since Cagayan region was not affected by the rains," he said, adding that they expect the harvest season to be completed by August 2012. The NTA also revised its 2011 production figures to 79.3 million kilos for crop year 2010-2011 from the earlier 78.4 million kilos, while estimated value also increased to about P5.3 billion from P4.8 billion. For 2012, estimated tobacco production will reach 79.1 million kilos. "Originally, we expect about a 5-percent increase from last crop year or more than 80 million kilos, but we decided to have a more conservative estimate," Zaragoza said. Meanwhile, the NTA chief announced that they have raised the floor prices of Virginia tobacco as a result of a recently-concluded tripartite conference which was participated in by the government regulatory agency, farmers and dealers. Zaragoza said that price increases for Virginia tobacco increased to P74.50 per kilo from P70. "As of now, we have only raised floor prices of Virginia since we still have not started harvesting Burley and native tobacco. But we also expect prices for various grades of tobacco to increase starting this year," he added. Zaragoza said that NTA has provided more than P90 million worth of production assistance to farmers this year, higher than the P36 million a year ago. "So far, a total of 3,860 tobacco farmers in over 2,700 hectares were provided with loan packages and other production assistance," he said. Enditem