Italian natural-gas-powered curing barn under test in Yunnan

The Luoping County Tobacco Sub-company (LCTS) has been carrying out trials of a leaf tobacco curing barn that uses the burning of natural gas as its heat source, according to a Qujing Tobacco Monopoly Administration story relayed by Tobacco China Online.

LCTS, which is inQujing City,Yunnanprovince, imported the Spapperi barn fromItaly.

In trying to reduce manpower, cut costs, improve quality and raise efficiency in leaf tobacco production, LCTS has sought to automate production processes and has imported a number of machines from Italy that have included automatic harvesters and topping machines, and that now include the natural gas barn.