Grim future predicted for Moldovan tobacco

Moldovan producers may stop growing tobacco, because it is very hard to sell on the international market. Head of the Tobacco Processors’ Association Serafim Terenti told Info-Prim Neo that this year’s tobacco production will fall in half if the drought continues. Serafim Terenti says that the main foreign buyers are fussy about the quality and price of the Moldovan tobacco, and prefer the one from China. “The last two years’ tobacco sales reached critically low levels and, I believe that in several years this activity will cease to exist in Moldova”, said Serafim Terenti. Tobacco is mostly cultivated in the central regions of the country. The product is mainly for export. Although the sales have become difficult, the producers do not intend to change prices, which currently rise up to 25,000 lei for a ton of tobacco. From about 2,000 hectares planted, the producers get up to 8,000 tons of dry tobacco.