The Leaf Tobacco Deliberative Council has agreed that 6,886 hectares of tobacco will be cultivated in 2019 and that the price paid to farmers for their leaf will be set at an average of JPY 1,912.32 per kilogram for all leaf types (EUR 15 at current exchange rates), Japan Tobacco (JT) announced.

The agreement means the 2019 crop will be 4.8 per cent smaller than the area contracted for 2018, and that farmers will receive a price increase of 1.33 per cent.
The Council's annual determinations, which set the crop size and leaf price for the following tobacco season, were announced by JT following a proposal submitted to the Council by the cigarette maker.
JT said it and the Council had been in “general agreement” and that it would undertake its operations in accordance with the determinations.
The tobacco grown is used for domestic production and the area contracted has roughly halved since 2010.