Chinese County Grows High-Quality Tobacco in Substitution for Imports

Source from:  Xianfeng County  05/08/2004

Xianfeng County in central China's Hubei Province is growing 2,100 mu (140 hectares) of high-quality leaf tobacco as a substitute for leaf tobacco imports this year, under unified arrangement by the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA). Recently, Xianfeng County Tobacco Company signed an agreement with Wuhan Tobacco Group – one of the 36 key Chinese tobacco manufacturers based in Hubei – and two Chinese tobacco science research institutes on the production of high-quality leaf tobacco in the ecologically favorable Jianshan Township Delta Village in Xianfeng County. According to the agreement, the parties involved will carefully formulate and implement production plans and technical proposals, and will organize leaf tobacco production in accordance with relevant technical requirements, in order that high-quality leaf tobacco produced in Xianfeng will gradually reach the standards of imported high-quality leaf tobacco. The production of high-quality leaf tobacco in substitution for leaf tobacco imports is intended to meet growing demand of Chinese tobacco manufacturers for the supply of highly aromatic leaf tobacco similar to Zimbabwe or Brazil leaf tobacco for manufacturing "Chinese-style cigarettes," which the tobacco industry of China has defined as cigarette products with distinctive characteristics of aroma and flavor manufactured with core technologies possessed by China's tobacco industry that are capable of meeting the current and potential demand of Chinese cigarette consumers, mainly including Chinese-style flue-cured-type and Chinese-style blend-type cigarettes, with Chinese-style flue-cured-type cigarettes taking the dominant position. Over recent years, the tobacco industry of China has faced shortages of supply of high-quality leaf tobacco imported from Zimbabwe and other regions, a raw material indispensable for the production of high-grade cigarettes. In an effort to make up for deficiency in the supply of high-quality leaf tobacco imports, the tobacco industry of China has invested heavily in the growing of high-quality leaf tobacco in a number of tobacco-growing regions in China as a substitute for leaf tobacco imports. In March, the STMA announced a five-year plan for the production of high-quality leaf tobacco in China in partial substitution for leaf tobacco imports from Zimbabwe. The STMA has designated 50,000 mu (3,333 hectares) of farmland across China for growing 30,000 dan (1,500 tons) of high-quality leaf tobacco in 2004 that must meet the quality standards of leaf tobacco imports from Zimbabwe, as part of the five-year plan. The 50,000 mu (3,333 hectares) of farmland designated for growing high-quality leaf tobacco in 2004 is in 19 counties in eight Chinese provinces. The high-quality leaf tobacco produced this year will be supplied to 14 key Chinese tobacco manufacturing enterprises as a substitute for leaf tobacco imports. Enditem