India hopes to resume tobacco exports to China which have been stalled since the 1980s after the discovery of pests in some consignments. A delegation led by the Tobacco Board met officials at Beijing?s policy-making body State Trade Monopoly Administration (STMA), on September 29 to persuade the country to allow imports of Indian tobacco. The delegation held discussions on farming, curing and trading system of tobacco in China.
The team included Tobacco Board chairman Kamalavardhana Rao and officials from manufacturers and the government. As India?s traditional export markets shift to low-value tobacco from other countries, India hopes to make up the loss by selling more to China, a growing market.
?There has been a decline in exports of tobacco products to Russia and the ex-Soviet states, but hope to resume exports to China shortly,? Rao told FE. India is looking to export flue cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to China. FCV tobacco is used in making cigarettes.
With an estimated annual production of 2,300 million kg that goes into 2.38 trillion cigarettes, China is the world?s largest tobacco producer. But as domestic demand soars, it has been importing the commodity in huge quantities, and India aims to tap this market.
In the early ?80s, India?s exports of tobacco to China were 30.37 million kg, which quickly fell to 2.75 million kg in subsequent years as pests were found in some of the export consignments. In January 2008, during the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to China, the countries signed a protocol of phytosanitary requirements, which would have enabled the resumption of Indian tobacco exports to China.
?China has shown keen interest in sourcing FCV from India to meet its domestic demand,? Rao said.