Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC) has constituted two special committees one each for NWFP and Punjab provinces to work out cost of production of tobacco by visiting tobacco growing areas and fix the minimum prices of the commodity after consulting the growers.
The reports of these two committees are considered in-dept by the Price & Grade Revision Committee consisting of the representatives of tobacco growers, tobacco industry, industrial division, agricultural prices commission, Pakistan Tobacco Board.
The committee headed by Agricultural Development Commissioner will formulates recommendations to be taken by the board, which later would be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce for taking final decision regarding fixation of the minimum prices for various types of tobacco.
The committee will takes the parameters of increase in cost of production, minimum prices, world tobacco trends, rate of inflation in the country, prices of other agricultural commodities and whole sale prices index of raw materials for the industry while fixing minimum prices of tobacco.
The indicative prices fixed by the federal government for tobacco crop 2007 are Rs 60.35 per kilogram for flue-cured Virginia, Rs 26.69 for Dark air-cured, Rs 34.10 for whit patta and Rs 63.60 per kilogram of Burley. According Pakistan Tobacco Board, the tobacco companies have commenced purchases of the commodity at their purchase depots on the dates fixed by the board.
However, it has been observed that the tobacco growers are not happy with the prices being offered to them by the companies and are hoarding their cured stocks of tobacco for want of still higher prices.
The growers are demanding that the increase in cost of production should find suitable reflection in the weighted average prices paid to them by the tobacco companies and to compensate them for the losses incurred to their standing crop in the fields through hailstorm/windstorm attacks and drowning.
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