Croatian Tobacco, part of the BAT group, enters the new production season with an increase in tobacco production

Croatian Tobacco, the largest tobacco buyer in the Podravina and Slavonia regions operating within the BAT group, has started contracting the new production season two months earlier than usual, and despite significant challenges from ongoing inflationary cost increases in production and the withdrawal of elderly households from agricultural production, they are witnessing an increased interest from farmers in tobacco production.

With just over a month until the formal end of the contracting season, Croatian Tobacco has already contracted 16 percent more hectares compared to last year, which is a significant step forward. The increased interest from farmers in tobacco this year is primarily due to the fact that tobacco production is one of the best-organized agricultural productions in Croatia, for which BAT is responsible.

The guaranteed purchase of all produced quantities of tobacco, financial monitoring throughout all phases of production, encouragement of investments to increase production productivity, as well as BAT’s focus on the sustainability of producers, ensure quality production conditions and security for cooperatives within the Croatian Tobacco system. Additionally, the purchase price is continuously rising; in the past two years, it has increased by over 50 percent, and the purchase price of tobacco is not subject to fluctuations like grains and other agricultural crops.

– We have faced challenging years of significant increases in production costs, as well as weather disasters that are the main culprit for the decline in tobacco production. However, what is important is that we have successfully navigated all these challenges together with our cooperatives and have proven that tobacco production has a future in Croatia.

We want to increase tobacco production not only in Podravina and Slavonia but also in other parts of Croatia, and the interest from producers we have this year encourages us. We are proud that producers recognize that our focus is on the long-term sustainability and profitability of producers. The fact that we have managed to secure this in a very challenging period behind us is the best proof that producers can trust us in any situation, “said Aleksandra Grigić, CEO of Croatian Tobacco.

The growth in contracted areas is a result of the increase in tobacco areas among existing producers, as well as the increased interest from new farmers who have been engaged in other agricultural crops for tobacco production.

The contracting of the new season is also accompanied by a large number of inquiries from farmers for long-term financing of production, primarily for mechanization: from toppers and tobacco dryers to mechanical harvesters, which harvested about 60 percent of the tobacco areas last year.

– We started contracting the new season two months earlier than last year because we wanted to show producers that we are proactive and that we are offering them a continuation of the increase in purchase prices and stability in production this year as well. We believe that this is an important message in agriculture in these quite challenging years.

We continue to invest in increasing the productivity of tobacco production through various measures, and I would particularly emphasize the importance of support from our agronomists in the field, who last season, in collaboration with farmers, helped achieve very good yields despite adverse weather conditions, “said Igor Švarc, head of tobacco production at Croatian Tobacco.