Tobacco and tobacco products worth ₹6,880.21 crore and weighing 2.25 lakh tonnes were exported during 2021-22 against the exports of 2.22 lakh tonnes valued at ₹6,496.09 crore registered in 2020-21.
When compared with 2020-21, the growth in exports in 2021-22, in terms of quantity, value in rupees and value in U.S. dollars, is 1.35%, 5.91% and 5.34% respectively, A. Sridhar Babu, Executive Director of Indian Tobacco Board, told The Hindu.
The Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco accounted for a majority of the total unmanufactured tobacco exports from India. FCV tobacco exports accounted for 53.62% in terms of quantity and 68.47% in terms of value during the financial year 2021-22, he said.
“India is the fourth largest producer of FCV tobacco in the world and third largest exporter. It is exporting FCV tobacco to more than 50 countries,” he said.
He further said that FCV tobacco was a major commercial crop being grown in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
“In Andhra Pradesh, it is grown in 10 districts with an annual production of around 121 million kg (2021-22) by 43,000 growers cultivating in an area of 66,000 ha,” he said.
He further said that standing crop was severely affected due to the Mandous Cyclone in December 2022 in the southern eegion of Andhra Pradesh.
Out of 53,500 hectares in which FCV tobacco was grown, crop in an area of 26,197 hectares was affected severely, forcing the farmers to go for re-plantation.
Mr. Sridhar said that considering the plight of the farmers, the Ministry of Commerce agreed to extend an interest-free loan of 10,000 each to the growers who were members of the Tobacco Board’s Growers’ Welfare Fund Scheme.
