Yunnan Province completes flue-cured tobacco transplant
Beijing. May 18. INTERFAX-CHINA - Yunnan Province has finished transplanting 7.02 million mu (4,680 square kilometers) of flue-cured tobacco plants, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau (STMB) announced May 18.
The transplant was completed five days ahead of schedule, creating China's largest tobacco plantation, according to the announcement.
Flue-cured tobacco is a type of cigarette tobacco that accounts for 90 percent of China's tobacco production. Transplanting in agricultural terms refers to the practice of moving seedlings sown in a nursery to a larger production field.
The STMB's Yunnan branch added that it has allocated RMB 200 million ($30.75 million) in subsidies this year to increase the rate of mechanization in the province's tobacco-growing industry.
China is the world's largest tobacco producer and consumer, while Yunnan is the country's biggest provincial exporter of tobacco. Yunnan's tobacco industry generated an aggregate RMB 62.50 billion ($9.61 billion) in tax revenue and profit last year, up 9.60 percent year-on-year.
- LYB