India's southern state of Karnataka is expected to harvest 105 million kg of tobacco in 2008, which is 20.7 per cent more than last year, as farmers increased acreage on higher prices.

Auctions on the Mysore platform in Karnataka began on Wednesday and the highest price for FCV was INR 96.40 per kg (EUR 1.52), up 41.8 per cent compared to IND 68 a in 2007, said J Suresh Babu, chairman of the Tobacco Board.
Due to rising input costs and higher prices in the international market, the Board has fixed a floor price of INR 90 a kg for 2008, 38 per cent higher than last year's INR 65. The Tobacco Board of India fixed Karnataka's crop size at 100 million kg for this season. In 2007, Karnataka harvested 87 million kg.
According to Tobacco Board estimates, India has shipped 80.6 million kg of tobacco between April and July 2008 compared with 60.3 million kg of tobacco during the same period last year. The rise in export can be attributed to the renewed demand for Indian tobacco due to a supply crunch from major growing counties such as China, Brazil and Zimbabwe, the Board specified. Tobacco product exports increased by 27 per cent from 8.2 million kg to 10.5 million kg. (pi)