<strong>China: Prefecture Starts Production of Leaf Tobacco Introduced from Zimbabwe</strong>

Source from:  TobaccoChina Online 10/23/2013

Dehong Ethnic Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China's tobacco-producing Yunnan Province held a ceremony on October 14 to launch the project of starting the production of high-quality Zimbabwe leaf tobacco in the Golden Sand River Valley and Mangshi City in the prefecture.

The Chinese Communist Party Dehong Prefecture Committee and Dehong Prefecture government take the tobacco industry as a major backbone industry for increasing income for farmers, enterprises and the government finance. Closely in accordance with the target of building "international characteristic high-quality leaf tobacco strategic bases and bases for producing core raw materials for high-end brands of Chinese-style cigarettes", they have put forward a "three-stage strategy" for the development of the tobacco industry in Dehong Prefecture:

Firstly, Dehong Prefecture is planning to spend the next three years or so raising the leaf tobacco purchase quantity from it to a total of 1 million dan (50,000 tons) or higher, completing the construction of strategic leaf tobacco reserve bases that will be the most important in Yunnan Province, and developing a characteristic high-quality Zimbabwe leaf tobacco brand known as "Dehong Jade Star:

Secondly, Dehong Prefecture will, after succeeding in raising the leaf tobacco purchase quantity from it to a total of 1 million dan (50,000 tons) or higher, strive to build a leaf tobacco redrying and processing factory, to realize localized redrying of leaf tobacco, to extend the industrial chain of tobacco production, to increase the added value of tobacco and to promote industrialization of leaf tobacco production in Dehong Prefecture to higher levels.

And thirdly, Dehong Prefecture will strive to seize the opportunity of construction of Dehong into a golden port in Yunnan and construction of the national priority development and opening experimental zone in the port city of Ruili in the province by building Dehong Cigarette Factory for exports to markets in Southeast Asia and South Asia.

Dehong Prefecture launched pilot projects of growing oriental tobacco and tobacco for flue curing respectively in 2006 and 2009, winning successes therein. In 2013, Dehong Prefecture grew 204,000 mu (13,600 hectares) of tobacco, and purchased 608,000 dan (30,400 tons) of leaf tobacco from the local tobacco growers, generating 662 million yuan (107 million U.S. dollars) in agricultural output value from tobacco production, and paying 146 million yuan (23.6 million U.S. dollars) in leaf tobacco tax. Enditem