India may export tobacco to China

India is getting ready to export tobacco to China from this year, if everything goes well. Trade relations between India and China would be renewed after a gap of around 12 years.

The Tobacco Board has received communication from the Chinese government seeking tobacco samples. This happened after the successful visit of Indian Tobacco Association (ITA) delegation to China. The ITA delegation headed by Tobacco Board chairman, G Kamalavardhana Rao, had visited China from September 25 to 30.

Speaking to Business Standard, Rao said the delegation had held discussions with the State Trade Monopoly Administration (STMA) of China where the issue of tobacco imports from India were discussed. The STMA delegates have agreed to renew the trade.

The board would now hold consultations with the ITA and decide on the time to send the samples to China. “We are confident of completing the exercise in the next couple of weeks and send samples as requested by China,” he said.

The board had also committed to export tobacco at lower price than the price of Zimbabwe, the biggest tobacco exporter to China. Indian tobacco is now being exported to over 60 countries across the world and China being the biggest importer, India wants to renew the ties and restore its market.

“We are confident of getting orders from China for the next season. We are targeting at least 10 million kg tobacco to begin with,” Rao said.

Meanwhile, the Tobacco Board has fixed the crop size to 162 million kg for the 2012-13 crop season in Andhra Pradesh. This is against 170 million kg fixed for the 2011-12 season.