ag-formation

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE                                  Telephone (803) 734-2210

D. LESLIE TINDAL, COMMISSIONER                                        Becky Walton, Director of Public Information

P.O. Box 11280, Columbia, South Carolina 29211                                                     bwalton@scda.state.sc.us

www.scda.state.sc.us

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 5, 2000

(Columbia, SC)-The USDA recently announced the marketing area opening dates for the 2000 flue-cured tobacco marketing season.  The Area B (South Carolina-border North Carolina), Type 13 tobacco will open August 8.

Opening dates are determined annually for flue-cured tobacco sold at designated auction markets.  Based on recommendations made by the Flue-Cured Tobacco Advisory Committee at the meeting on June 15 in Raleigh, NC, USDA established opening dates for each marketing area to mark the beginning of the marketing season.

Tobacco opening dates for other areas are:
 Area A (Georgia-Florida)    Type 14 tobacco August   1
 Area B (South Carolina-border NC)  Type 13 tobacco August   8
 Area C (Eastern North Carolina)   Type 12 tobacco August   9
 Area D (North carolina-Virginia)   Type 11 tobacco August 14

Inspection and price support services will be made available at designated auction markets on the above dates.

SC TOBACCO STATS
(Last Season-1999)
-  Smallest flue-cured tobacco crop in 58 years based on net sales
-  1,877 growers & about 16,000 allotment holders
-  Total sold by warehousemen, producers, dealers (80,173,257 lbs. @ $135,257,474)
-  Average of $168.71 per 100 lbs.
-  Total sold by producers only (72,172,343 lbs. @ $120,813,399)
-  Total sold by warehousemen only (8,057,359 lbs. @ $14,441,685)
-  Loss of 15,000 acres of tobacco harvested since 1997
-  23 tobacco warehouses on 6 markets
-  Sets of buyers and graders were reduced from 50 to 37 this season.
-  Tobacco rolls over 5-7 times in the economy (about $775 million a year).
-  Heaviest concentration is in the Pee Dee, but tobacco means $ to the entire state.
-  Tobacco is a close-knit family.
-  The tobacco industry generates millions of dollars a year in sales tax for SC.
-  Tobacco now has a total cash value of just under $150 million a year

For more information, call Tommy Coleman, SC Department of Agriculture Tobacco Marketing Specialist, 843-665-5154.