Prices for Virginia tobacco increased by 27.45 per cent for the premium grades, 17 per cent for grades "ABC,"84 per cent for assorted leaves, and 159 per cent for grade "R," official records show.
Carlitos Encarnacion, head of the National Tobacco Administration, said farmers are expected to earn huge profits owing to the high quality of their crop. Encarnacion also reported that production was estimated to have reached 41.4 million kg this season, up from 37.7 million kg in the 2005-06 season and 41.3 million kg in 2004-05. The latest harvest is said to be made up of 25.12 million kg of flue-cured, 7.13 million kg of Burley, 9.12 million kg of native tobacco, and 40,000 kg of semi-oriental.
Part of the reason why the tobacco quality was good this season may have been due to the regime of early planting recently encouraged by the NTA. In addition, this season differed from previous seasons because of the implementation of a contract growing program which brought farmers and tobacco buying companies together, with the support of the NTA. (pi)