Imperial Tobacco, the British multinational owner of the John Player Special, Davidoff, Golden Virginia and RIZLA brands, confirms its commitment to purchase 2.500 tons of quality Italian tobacco. These purchases, relating to the 2017 harvest, will be divided equally between the Virginia Bright and Burley varieties produced in Umbria, Veneto and Campania.
After a long phase of technical meetings, a meeting was held in Rome at the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies between the Deputy Minister Andrea Olivero, the Head of the Competitive Policies Department Luca Bianchi and Valerio Forconi in charge of institutional relations and legal affairs South East Europe region of Imperial Tobacco. During this meeting, the Group's commitment was reaffirmed, which it will help to convey confidence to Italian tobacco growers and will allow them to sign cultivation contracts for the next harvest.
"Imperial Tobacco has decided to confirm, once again this year, its commitment to the purchase of Italian tobacco - said Valerio Forconi – despite the recent changes to the regulatory framework, at all levels, have led to a contraction in volumes and margins, penalizing the entire supply chain. Although Italian tobacco, after the elimination of community support, is more expensive than that of other origins due to high production costs, we will continue to purchase it in quantities in line with our market share because we believe in value and quality of Italian production".
“Taking into account the difficult moment the sector is going through, we hope that the regulatory framework as a whole will not undergo further tightening, in order to allow us to confirm our choices and future investments in Italy – concluded Forconi”.
