Foreword 



Oriental, once consumed largely in the countries which grow it, has penetrated 

 world markets as a cigarette tobacco to be blended with other types. One of the ways 

 in which it is used is in the so-called American-blend cigarette, both in the United 

 States and abroad. 



Oriental tobacco entering world trade channels had increased to over a half-billion 

 pounds by 1964, from about a quarter-of-a-billion-pound average in the 1935-39 

 period. In addition to the rising quantities produced and exported, oriental is 

 encountering other changes. The supply of hand labor, so essential to its production, is 

 becoming less and less plentiful. Also, "blue-mold" disease is under somewhat better 

 control, and some surplus supplies have been appearing; at the same time, producing 

 countries have been rapidly increasing the output of competitive types of tobacco. 



It is this picture of change that has led the Tobacco Division to make the present 

 study of this type of tobacco, which is used widely by itself or in combination with 

 other types, and exerts an influence on the world market for tobacco. To prepare 

 this study, the author traveled widely and made observations in principal producing 

 countries of Greece, Turkey, Syria, Yugoslavia, and Italy in August and September of 

 1964. The present study supersedes the Division's earlier report on the same subject, 

 "The Position of Oriental Tobacco in World Production and Trade," Foreign Agri- 

 culture Report No. 113 of October 1958. 



H:^h C. Kiger, Director 

 Tobacco Division 



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