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Tag: Oriental Tobacco

  • ITGA Forum Examines Oriental Tobacco Markets and Regulation

    ITGA Forum Examines Oriental Tobacco Markets and Regulation

    The International Tobacco Growers’ Association (ITGA) and North Macedonia’s Union of Tobacco Producers held the Oriental Tobacco Forum on Oct. 27 in Prilep, North Macedonia, bringing together growers, researchers, and industry representatives to discuss global leaf markets, production trends, and regulation. North Macedonia has approximately 15,000 tobacco growers who produce 25 million kilograms annually and exports more than $200 million worth of tobacco each year.

    ITGA estimates global tobacco production will decline about 5% in 2026 following a strong 2025 crop, with a further decrease projected for 2027. Global Oriental tobacco production is estimated at 138 million kilograms in 2026. Forecasts presented at the forum put North Macedonia’s 2026 crop at 30.8 million kilograms, up 17.5% from 2025, and Bulgarian Oriental production at 4.9 million kilograms, up 43.2%. Greek tobacco production fell to 10.52 million kilograms in 2025 from 12.27 million in 2024, while Turkish tobacco purchases reached approximately 68 million kilograms by the end of August 2026, compared with 48 million kilograms a year earlier.

    The forum also covered proposed revisions to EU tobacco product and advertising directives, tobacco excise taxation, and developments under the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. ITGA representatives discussed regulatory effects on growers and rural economies ahead of the treaty’s 12th Conference of the Parties, scheduled for 2027 in Yerevan, Armenia.

  • Tobacco Workers Strike in Western Turkiye 

    Tobacco Workers Strike in Western Turkiye 

    Failed contract talks have left hundreds of workers at three tobacco factories in Turkiye’s western İzmir province on strike, demanding higher wages and better benefits. Union leaders accused employers of offering unrealistic proposals and favoring subcontractors.

    At the beginning of this week, 600 workers at Sunel Tobacco, 800 workers at Oriental Tobacco, and 300 workers from T.T.L. Tobacco, all organized under the Tekgıda-İş Union, halted production.

    Tekgıda-İş İzmir No. 7 Branch President Ömer Atabey said there were separate negotiations, but the three factories acted together. “They keep telling us, ‘If the collective agreement is settled at one, it will be settled at all.’ We responded, ‘If you employers have united, then we workers at the three factories have united too.’ We put this decision into action for the benefit of our members, and we will continue our struggle until we receive the wages and social rights we demand,” he said.

    “They are trying to stall us by offering only a 2% or 4% welfare increase above inflation,” Atabey said. “The three employers are acting together and trying to impose terms on us. We responded to this with worker solidarity. We decided to strike at the start of the second sixty-day period, without waiting for the end. That’s because there is a huge gap between our demands and their offers. They are not objective, they are not realistic.”

    Atabey also said employers paid subcontractors up to 2,000 liras ($55). “But they are unwilling to offer similar wages to their own workers. This was one of the biggest breaking points for the workers. The employers are not objective or realistic,” he said.