Flue-cured tobacco prices increased in Karnataka

The average price paid for flue-cured tobacco during the first 35 days of auctions in Karnataka, India, at Rs138.00 per kg, was about 17 percent higher than the average price paid during the corresponding period of last year, Rs117.85 per kg, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group’s newsletter.

Bright grade leaf sold for an average of Rs.160.00 per kg during the first 35 days of this season’s auctions, while the highest price paid during this period was Rs165.00 per kg.

The higher prices will have been caused in part by the short crop in Karnataka that, in turn, was caused by adverse weather conditions in the tobacco-growing areas of Mysuru district.

The Tobacco Board had fixed the 2015 crop at 102 million kg, but it slumped to about 84 million kg.

Last year the state produced 103 million kg.

The increase in prices might be due also to the unhelpful weather in Brazil that has reduced the crop there, and to the reduction in tobacco-grower registrations in Zimbabwe for the 2015/16 crop.