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Malawi tobacco sales 'drop 9%' 

Sales of Malawi's main cash crop tobacco dropped nine percent to 433 million dollars (293 million euros) this year, as prices at the auction floor fell by nearly a quarter, the country's crop watchdog said Wednesday.

"The tobacco market suffered some price setbacks and average prices were down by 23 percent per kilo this year," Bruce Munthali, general manager of the Tobacco Control Commission, told reporters.

Despite a record harvest of 208 million kilos of burley tobacco, average prices dropped to 1.86 dollars per kilo, from 2.42 dollars last year, he said..

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Stop Growing Tobacco - Banyoro Told  

THE information minister, Kabakumba Masiko, has told the people of Bunyoro to stop growing tobacco, saying it was no longer a profitable venture.

She said some people had grown tobacco for several years in her Bujenje constituency in Masindi district but they had remained poor.

Her remarks came at the time when over 5,000 tobacco farmers in Hoima district were protesting the delay by a local firm, Continental Tobacco, to pay them over sh3b.

Kabakumba was opening a three-day agricultural exhibition organised by Hoima Caritas Development Organisation, an arm of Hoima Catholic Diocese, at Boma grounds in Hoima town on Thursday. . . .

The minister explained that tobacco growing can only be carried out by farmers with large chunks of land and urged those with little land to embark on mixed enterprises, which is being supported by the Government.

"The growing of such crops is no longer possible because they need a lot of land, which we don't have," Kabakumba said.

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Mutati warns tobacco farmers over exports  

THE Government has warned farmers, merchants and firms exporting raw tobacco of stringent action if they do not regulate themselves.

Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati said the Government would take action on any company exporting unprocessed tobacco if they do not begin to regulate themselves.

“So we call on you for self-regulation to ensure that you do not export unprocessed tobacco. Let us not export to Malawi and Zimbabwe unprocessed tobacco. Let us do the processing in Zambia,” he said.

His Ministry would be discussing with the ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives on the measures the Government would take on those exporting unprocessed tobacco.

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Leaf groups seek challenge of Canadian law 

Tobacco advocates are seething over a new Canadian law they claim will snuff out sales of cigarettes packed with U.S. burley, and they are fighting back to protect their export sales.

They are asking U.S. trade officials to take their complaints to the World Trade Organization, hoping to pressure the Canadians into protecting burley from the tobacco crackdown. They also want to head off the spread of similar laws to other foreign markets that are crucial consumers of American leaf.

Export markets are "absolutely critical" to the tobacco industry, and a spread of similar laws to other countries "could have an absolutely devastating economic impact" on the sector, said Erica Peterson, executive vice president of the North Carolina Agribusiness Council.

The Canadian law won final approval this month. It is meant to curtail youth smoking in part by banning the sale of tobacco scented with fruit and candy flavors. U.S. tobacco supporters complain that the law overreached to cover American burley, which is laced with flavors to smooth its harsh taste.

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Metabolix Completes Field Trial of Bioplastic-Producing Tobacco Crop  

Metabolix, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBLX), a bioscience company focused on developing sustainable solutions for plastics, chemicals and energy, announced today that it has completed a field trial of tobacco, genetically engineered to express polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biobased polymers. Metabolix obtained the necessary permits from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to perform an open air field trial in March of 2009 and field trial experiments were completed in early October. The trial was performed on 0.8 acres of land and provided valuable data and information relating to polymer production, with the best plants producing 3-5% PHA. This furthers development of Metabolix crop technologies for the co-production of biobased plastics in non-food bioenergy crops.

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Finance Constrains Tobacco  

LACK of finance continues to hamper a proper rebound of tobacco production as the planting of irrigated tobacco started last week. Financing of the 2009-2010 tobacco season has been unstable, with prospective financers still to make a full commitment.

This is likely to affect the anticipated increase in production which has far reaching effects on the entire economy.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Association president Kevin Cooke confirmed that the planting of the dry land crop started last week.

"Basically planting of the dry land crop went ahead well but there are problems with the unavailability of inputs and finance for the production of the crop," said Cooke. "There is a large number of tobacco farmers who have not received inputs on time and this may affect ultimate production."

A rebound of tobacco production has continuously been hampered by unavailability of inputs.

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Tobacco delegation from China to visit NC  

More than 20 people representing China's tobacco industry are visiting North Carolina to learn more about the state's homegrown product.

State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler will host the 22-person delegation on Saturday afternoon at the State Fair in Raleigh.

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Extra tobacco output for export to be fined 

The government will impose a hefty penalty of 15% of sale proceeds if farmers produce more export quality tobacco than the quota allotted to them by the Tobacco Board for the current year.

The penalty was 5% in 2008-09 season. But farmers exceeded the quota by about 18%, tempted by almost 100% increase in prices of the flue-cured variety (FCV) of tobacco, grown largely in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

"The penalty has been increased to discourage farmers from cultivating surplus FCV tobacco," Tobacco Board chairman J Suresh Babu said.

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Officials: Windsor Locks Barn Fire Was Arson 

The fire that destroyed three empty tobacco barns Monday was set intentionally, the deputy fire marshal said Wednesday.

Investigators have ruled out all causes other than arson in the fire that consumed the barns about 4 p.m. Monday on land off Old Colony Road, said Deputy Fire Marshal John Kupernik.

Investigators are now appealing to the public for help as they seek those responsible.

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Troubled times for tobacco farmers  

A disastrous growing season plagued by bad weather and crop viruses -- combined with sagging cigar sales -- has left many tobacco growers in the Connecticut River Valley reeling.

There's no better place in America to grow broadleaf and shade tobacco, used for premium cigar wrappers and binders. But these are troubled times along New England's own tobacco road, roughly 75 miles straddling western Massachusetts and Connecticut.

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Fire Destroys Windsor Locks Tobacco Sheds 

WINDSOR LOCKS - Fire crews from Windsor and Windsor Locks spent Monday evening battling a massive fire that has destroyed several tobacco sheds

The fire broke out at a tobacco shed on Rainbow Road near Route 20 in Windsor Locks around 4pm. Over a hundred firefighters were called in from surrounding towns to combat the intense flames, which created thick plumes of black smoke visible for miles.

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Fire destroys tobacco barns in Conn. 

WINDSOR LOCKS, Conn.--More than 100 firefighters have been battling a blaze that has destroyed several tobacco curing sheds in Windsor Locks.

The fire broke out at one of the hulking barns on Rainbow Road around 4 p.m. on Monday.

Thick black smoke was visible for miles in the Connecticut River Valley.

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Stop tobacco farms: Medic 

FIJI College of General Practitioners president Dr Ram Raju said stakeholders should find ways to curb the growing acreage under tobacco.

He said stakeholders should try and work towards a smoke-free Fiji.

He said if tobacco was the second highest risk factor contributing to non-communicable diseases then something should be done to stop the cultivation. . . .

The summit is hosted by the Health Ministry bringing together traders, farmers, health workers, policy makers and regulators.

The end result will be a series of recommendations put to Cabinet to help improve food security and consequently the health of the people of Fiji.

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Philip Morris to stop offering contracts 

The outlook for Georgia tobacco farmers was clouded this week with the announcement that the largest cigarette manufacturer will not offer contracts and will close its Alma buying station.

Philip Morris USA told tobacco growers at a Wednesday meeting in Alma that it will no longer issue one-year contracts to growers. The company said it will honor three- and five-year contracts that are in effect as long as growers are in good standing.

"The folks that left that meeting Wednesday were pretty much in a state of confusion," said J. Michael Moore, a University of Georgia extension agronomist. "There's a lot of uncertainty."

The closing of the Alma buying station reflects the tobacco giant's decision to shift production to North Carolina and Virginia, Moore said. It is too early to determine how big the blow will be to Georgia tobacco growers.

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• U.S. tobacco growers fighting bill 

The Canadian government is being targeted in a new U.S. advertising campaign that alleges Ottawa's latest anti-smoking law violates international trade agreements by discriminating against U.S. cigarette imports.

In newspaper ads that will run next week in two widely read Capitol Hill newspapers, Kentucky's burley-tobacco growers say they've been side-swiped by legislation that bans candy-flavoured products marketed to youth.

Burley tobacco is air-cured tobacco used primarily for cigarette production. Its growth is centred in Kentucky.

The farmers also are preparing a World Trade Organization complaint that contends provisions in Bill

C-32, which received royal assent Oct. 8, unfairly outlaws the sale in Canada of U.S.-style cigarettes blended with burley.

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