Universal Corp said sales in the fiscal year ending 30 March will be lower than the year before, citing a smaller Brazilian crop and “challenging market conditions” in Tanzania.

Tobacco segment operating profit in the three months to 30 Sept, stripped of USD 3.7 million (EUR 3.4 million) in restructuring and impairment costs, rose USD 6 million to USD 43.3 million on nearly unchanged sales of USD 457 million, the leaf merchant said.
"After consecutive years of leaf tobacco supply and demand imbalance, global demand remains soft and may contribute to delays in some customer purchase and shipment timing decisions. Consequently, our shipments are still expected to be weighted to the second half of the year, and we anticipate that total lamina sales volumes in fiscal year 2017 will be lower than those of last year,” said Chief Executive Officer George Freeman.