RI to keep auction yard for tobacco in Bremen
RI to keep auction yard for tobacco in Bremen
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will maintain the Bremen tobacco
auction yard in Germany despite a supply laggard, Director
General of Plantations A.R. Tondok said here on Saturday.
Tondok said he had received a letter from the agency for
overseas tobacco marketing and supervision that it would hold
tobacco auctions in Bremen starting next month.
"We have no plans to close down our tobacco auction yard in
Bremen as it remains our backbone to thrust into the European
tobacco market," Tondok said, reported Antara.
It was rumored that Indonesia would close down the market
because of a downturn in domestic tobacco outputs resulting from
prolonged rainy seasons during the last two years.
Indonesian tobacco auctioned in the Bremen market is mainly
from North Sumatra, known as Deli tobacco, and Java, especially
from Central Java and East Java.
Deli tobacco is well-known for its aroma and is used mostly to
produce cigars.
Tondok said tobacco productions from North Sumatra and East
Java have been recovering and the agency plans to hold three
auctions during June and July.
The first auction would be on June 15 for Deli tobacco, the
second on July 2 for Java tobacco and the third on July 3 for
Deli tobacco.
State-owned plantation firm PTP II, which produces Deli
tobacco, said it will auction 860.4 tons of tobacco in Bremen
this year. This volume will be maintained until 1999.
Besides the auctions, the company also conducts direct selling
to consumers. It has estimated it will dispatch 319.6 tons of
tobacco a year up to 1999 through direct selling.
Unlike in North Sumatra, most tobacco in East Java and Central
Java is grown by farmers. Farmers then sell their tobacco to the
state-owned plantation firm PTP X in East Java, which then
exports it or sells it to cigarette manufacturers.
East Java and Central Java are home to dozens of cigarettes
manufacturers, including PT Gudang Garam in Kediri, PT HM
Sampoerna in Surabaya -- all in East Java -- and PT Djarum in
Kudus, Central Java.
Ghozali, head of the plantation agency at Bojonegoro, East
Java, said tobacco harvests in the regency would be good this
year, producing some 13 tons of Voor Oost tobacco from 17,250
hectares of farmers' tobacco plantations. (rid)