DEVELOPING AND MARKET TESTING AN IMPROVED LOOSELEAF 



TOBACCO PACKAGE 



By Lindon U, Cockroft and J W. H, Brown 

 Agricultural Economists 

 Marketing Economics Division 

 Economic Research Service 



BACKGROUND 



Traditionally, type 14 flue-cured tobacco produced in Georgia and Florida has 

 been marketed untied, in round packs of loose leaves,, Flue-cured tobacco marketed 

 in other States is tied in bundles,, There is substantial agreement among leaf buyers 

 that the present method of selling looseleaf, flue-cured tobacco in cotton or burlap 

 sheets is damaging to the leaf and that the packages thus handled present a poor 

 appearance on the market. Tobacco growers can improve salability and decrease 

 preparation cost by adopting anew form of looseleaf package, such as the one described 

 here. 



Methods of processing tobacco have changed rapidly during the past 5 years. The 

 processing of tobacco strips for storage and aging has gained prominence in the tobacco 

 industry, especially among the domestic manufacturers and larger dealers and ex- 

 porters. The U.S. processing capacity for tipping and threshing tobacco into a strip 

 product increased from an insignificant amount to over 50 percent of total processing 

 capacity in the past few years, 1/ 



Due to the technological changes intobacco processing and the demands by farmers 

 in areas other than Georgia and Florida to market their flue- cured tobacco untied, 

 the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the 1962 marketing season began experimental 

 sales of loose leaves of types 11, 12, and 13, The experiment was limited to tobacco 

 from the lower part of the stalk, which is utilized almost entirely by domestic 

 manufacturers. The experiment did not include tobacco sold to exporters because 

 foreign manufacturers are changing to the use of a strip tobacco at a slower rate 

 than domestic companies. However, the world's leading tobacco importer, the 

 United Kingdom, received 58 percent of its total imports for 1963 in strip form, 2_/ 

 Forty percent of the total U.S. flue- cured tobacco shipped to the United Kingdom in 

 1963 was in strip form, 3/ 



Newly developed processing machinery and technology are making the old methods 

 of redrying and packing bundles into hogsheads obsolete. Modern methods of handling 

 the leaves in loose form utilize belt and vibration conveyors and air-pressure systems 

 which eliminate the requirement that leaves be tied in bundles for the conveyor 

 sticks. This change in tobacco processing technology has created the opportunity for 

 farmers to reduce the amount of labor needed to prepare tobacco for market if an 

 efficient method of packing loose leaves can be developed. 



1/ Cockroft, Li, U., and Brown, J. W. H. Econ. Res, Serv., U.S. Dept. Agr,, 

 unpublished data, 



2/ Tobacco Situation, Econ, Res, Serv, U.S. Dept. Agr., March 1964, p, 25. 



3_/ Conover, A. G, , and Sackrin, S. M Econ, Res. Serv,, U.S. Dept. Agr., unpublished 

 data. 



