AP tobacco growers want quick auction to cut losses
Crop sales
Ahead of the tobacco auctions in Andhra, the state’s tobacco growers have urged the government to open the auction floors as soon as the crop is ready in order to avoid undue losses.
Dr Y Sivaji, honorary president of the growers’ association, said in a statement that tobacco trade in India had got into the bad habit of buying crop straight from the auction floor and exporting it.
“Tobacco auctions in AP and Karnataka keep alternating, as tobacco is a monsoon crop in Karnataka and a late kharif or early rabi crop in AP,” he said. The trade exploited the situation to save on storage cost .
Nearly 160 million kg of tobacco is ready for auctions in Andhra Pradesh, slated to commence on February 23 at all 20 designated platforms .
While the first phase of sales begin on February 23 at Kaligiri and DC Palli in Nellore district, auctions at the two platforms in Podili in Prakasam district will begin on March 8, Tobacco Board Chairman G Kamalavardhana Rao said.
He said auctions in the third phase at 14 platforms will begin on March 12. The final phase of auctions will kick off at Torredu and Keesara platforms on March 26 . Although the permitted crop size in AP was around 158 million kg, the crop harvested in the state was about 160 million kg .
Rao said around 5,000 hectares of tobacco crops of Nellore and Prakasam districts were damaged due to unseasonal rain in the winter.
