Flue-cured prices up sharply

The average price paid to farmers for flue-cured tobacco grown in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh stood at Rs134.06 per kg on Friday, 14.3 percent up on the average price paid for the same volume of tobacco during the previous season, according to a story in the latest issue of the BBM Bommidala Group newsletter.

By Friday, 137 days into the 2017 sales season, farmers had marketed 101.75 million kg of flue-cured from a crop estimated at just in excess of 104 million kg. Sales are in the final phase with auction floors closed in all districts but that of West Godavari.

At the same time, flue-cured tobacco auctions in the state of Karnataka, which started in the Periyapatna and Mysore regions on September 8, are picking up.

Leaf production is estimated to have reached 103.5 million kg this year and initial reports from the auction floors indicate that flue-cured is fetching better prices than it did last year across all grades.

Prices for low-grade tobacco is said to have risen by Rs30 per kg.

The early average price stood at Rs150.38 per kg, up from last year’s Rs142.62 per kg.