Tobacco Harvest Reduced, Quality Lower – Last Year of Operations for Many Producers?

Just like last year, this year, before the harvest, the tobacco in Macva was affected by the drought, so producers estimate that, on average, the yield will be lower by 40% than expected.

– We have had only two to three rainy periods and a long period of drought and high temperatures during the vegetation stage, so the plants on many farms are insufficiently grown, the leaves are thin, small, they have no weight. Even the farms which we constantly irrigated have produced leaves of lower quality, which doesn’t have a nice color when dried – producers from the Bogatic area say.

Instead of 1.8 to 2 tons, they estimate that, on average, they will get around a ton of dried tobacco leaves per hectare. Although the purchasing prices have increased, they fear making the calculations, because the biggest uncertainty is in which class the buyers will put tobacco once they receive it. A dry leaf is paid for per quality, because it is divided into five classes. The producers emphasize that, even in the best years, the purchasers recognized the lowest quantities of dried tobacco in the first class, and the most in the third class, which is why in this extremely unfavorable year, the final calculation is even more uncertain.

– The production is agreed and we cooperate with factories to which we owe money for the secondary raw materials, and all the other costs are much larger than last year. For example, I spent 2.5 tons of fuel for irrigation alone and the wood and pellets which I use for drying cost me twice as much as last year – says a producer from Uzvece.

With nearly two thirds of the yield, according to the calculation of this producers, direct costs are met, and when the labor costs are calculated and paid, what remains are low earnings, due to which, in the past years, the production of tobacco has been barely profitable.

– Due to the reduced yield and the low quality, plenty of producers will incur a loss, so this extremely unfavorable year might be the last one for many and they might decide to stop producing tobacco – tobacco producers from Macva are pessimistic.

Tobacco harvest is still ongoing in the fields and regardless of the fact that it will be completed earlier than usual, it can still not be projected whether smokers should be worried over the weak yield of tobacco and whether and by how much they will have to pay more to enjoy tobacco smoke.

Mačva

Uzveće

drought

tobacco harvest

tobacco yield

dried tobacco leaves

purchase prices of tobacco

tobacco buyout