China: Kingdom of Tobacco Reports Bumper Harvest of Leaf Tobacco

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 10/31/2012

Southwest China’s Yunnan Province – the largest tobacco-producing region in China known as the kingdom of tobacco – reported a bumper harvest of leaf tobacco during the current leaf tobacco harvest and processing season, with the total leaf tobacco output of the province in the current year expected to reach 22.41 million dan (1.1205 million tons), an increase of 1.842 million dan (92,100 tons) year-on-year.

By October 20, Yunnan Province had fulfilled the annual leaf tobacco production and purchase quotas for the current year, with the total of leaf tobacco purchased so far reaching 21.741 million dan (1.08705 million tons). With the computation of 673,000 dan (33,650 tons) of air-cured and sun-cured leaf tobacco to be purchased, the total State purchase of leaf tobacco from Yunnan for the current year is expected to reach a high of 22.41 million dan (1.1205 million tons) an increase of 1.842 million dan (92,100 tons) year-on-year.

The tobacco growers in Yunnan earned a total of 24.88 billion yuan (3.95 billion U.S. dollars) from leaf tobacco sales so far this year, an increase of 6.13 billion yuan (973 million U.S. dollars) year-on-year. The province paid a total of 5.47 billion yuan (868 million U.S. dollars) in leaf tobacco taxes so far this year, an increase of 1.35 billion yuan (215 million U.S. dollars) over last year. As a result, Yunnan Province actually overfulfilled the leaf tobacco production targets set by the Communist Party Yunnan Provincial Committee and Yunnan Provincial People’s Government.

The proportion of medium- and high-grade leaf tobacco in all leaf tobacco purchased so far this year has reached 94.81 percent, up 0.79 percent year-on-year. In particular, the proportion of high-grade leaf tobacco reached 66.39 percent, up 11 percent over the years before the execution of a plan for structural improvement. Enditem