Americans Reduce Plantings But Not As Much As Expected

摘要

Although US tobacco growers had complained bitterly in the winter and spring that contract prices were not high enough to offset the rise in production expenses, a survey by the US Department of Agriculture indicated that plantings this season are down only slightly from 2007. The area planted with tobacco in 2008, according to the survey, was estimated at 348,040 acres, down 2% from 2007. Plantings of flue-cured, burley and shade-grown tobacco were down from 2007. Fire-cured, dark air-cured. Southern Maryland and the cigar types are all up in acreage but not enough to offset the decreases in other types. The survey was conducted in the first two weeks of June, at a time when most but not all of the American tobacco crop would have been planted. Burley growers have cut back the most, down 9% to 96,450 acres. If that proves correct, it will be the lowest burley acreage on record.