Bulgaria’s growers threaten to call a crop holiday over poor opening prices

Bulgaria’s National Association of Tobacco Growers has threatened to declare a ‘zero year’ if buying companies don’t increase tobacco prices, according to a Novinite story relayed by the TMA.

A zero year is presumably a year when no tobacco is produced.

Growers in Andhra  Pradesh, India, employed such a tactic about 10 years ago when they declared a ‘crop holiday’. The move, also prompted by disappointing prices, met with some success even though the Andhra growers produce flue-cured, a type that is normally widely available in big quantities.

The disappearance ofBulgaria’s oriental tobacco would be a different matter given that some observers believe oriental is heading towards being in short supply.

Tobacco producers are suspicious about the reasons for the delay in the country’s leaf purchasing season and the fact that there has been little variation in purchase prices, which are well below their expectations.

The season typically starts at the end of the summer and concludes at the end of October, but this year the sales are just beginning.