A total of 7159 bales of Sumatra tobacco was offered this year by the Deutsch-Indonesische Tabak-Handelsgesellschaft (DITH) in Bremen, Germany, yielding earnings of over 38 million DM

For the first time ever, peak prices exceeded DM 100 per 0.5 kilogram of leaf. The 1539 bales of Vorstenlanden tobaccos from Central Java, offered separately were also in great demand because of the exceptional size and colour of their leaves. The entire lot was sold for about DM 7.5 million.
The high-quality tobaccos from the state-owned plantations of Sumatra and Java will continue to be marketed through the Bremen Tobacco Exchange. An agreement exists since 38 years between the Indonesian producers and their German partners – three leaf tobacco trading companies known as the “Bremen group” and Bremer Landesbank – and was now extended until the end of the year 2000. Indonesia’s minister for agriculture, H. E. Prof. Dr. Ir. Sjarifudin Baharsjah, came to Bremen especially for the occasion.