Kohltrade And Star Tobacco Team Up

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 01/10/2012

Kohltrade Brazil and Star Tobacco International have established a marketing alliance under which the companies will cooperate internationally in the marketing and sales of tobacco products. With the exception of Kohltrade's prior commercial arrangements, Star becomes the exclusive international marketing entity for all Kohltrade tobaccos of Latin American origin for sale outside Latin America. To accelerate the commercialization of these tobaccos, Star will maintain a strategic stock of the most popular grades of Latin American FCV in its depot in Antwerp, Belgium, thereby offering its clients "just-in-time" delivery. The Latin American tobacco stocks will complement the portfolio of African and Asian tobaccos that Star maintains in Antwerp. With the exception of Star's prior commercial arrangements in Latin America, Kohltrade becomes the exclusive marketing entity of Star tobaccos of African, Asian and European origins for the Latin American region. "The transformation of the largest tobacco exporting country in the world-Brazil-initiated in 2008 by MNC's vertical integration programs has resulted in a significant change in supply side dynamics, especially for small and medium sized companies sourcing Brazilian tobaccos," says Star CEO Iqbal Lambat. "With Kohltrade's strong direct sourcing and packing capabilities in Brazil, Star is now better positioned to offer its clients with tobaccos of this origin at competitive terms and with security of long term supply." "Kohltrade has always acted in the representation, and supports the sale of tobacco produced by small and medium-sized independent Brazilian companies, in the vast majority, family-operated businesses," says Kohltrade Business Director Hardy Kohl Jr. "This allows us to be very competitive by working with suppliers that have lower operational and financial costs compared to the major market players. "The agreement signed with Star places us in a position where we can be more focused on qualifying our vendors and on serving the Latin American market, adding tobaccos of international origin, especially from Asia and Africa, to enhance our portfolio. With this Agreement, we intend to substantially increase the originally planned volume of tobacco to be sold by Kohltrade in 2012." Headquartered in Santa Cruz do Sul Brazil, Kohltrade has a corporate development program to ensure direct tobacco sourcing in major tobacco producing countries in Latin America such as Argentina. Star Tobacco International, headquartered in Istanbul Turkey, has operations in Africa, Europe, India and Asia. It is a strong advocate of "sustainable farming" in all the communities where it is active. The marketing alliance with Star International does not involve Kohltrade´s international commercialization and distribution of cut-rag products. Enditem