Filipino tobacco: From sunset to sunrise

(Sun Star) MORE than a decade ago, local tobacco farmers were producing the salty and off-type variety of tobacco which most cigarette manufacturers started rejecting in 2003. By that time, local tobacco farming was already being dubbed as a “sunset industry,” with production levels reaching its lowest from 2004 to 2006.
This was in stark contrast to the glory years of the tobacco industry in the 1990s when the Philippines was a major exporter of Burley and Virginia tobacco.
“We have reversed the trend of deteriorating quality and accelerated the pace of quality improvement,” said Winston Uy.
From producing salty, low-grade rejects, Filipino tobacco farmers now grow world-class tobacco that command high farm-gate prices in the local market. For instance, Universal Leaf Philippines Inc.’s Isabela burley used for domestic manufacturing and for export is now renowned worldwide, according to Uy. Continued