Romania could very become an exporter of tobacco, because it meets all the necessary requirements to produce the five types of tobacco, former agriculture minister Valeriu Tabără said in an interview. According to him, the domestic industry was destroyed by various interests over the last 20 years, and processors in the industry currently prefer to import the tobacco needed to manufacture cigarettes and other products which use this plant as a raw material.
* Interview with Valeriu Tabără, former minister of Agriculture and of Rural Development - MADR
Reporter: Last year, in a different interview, you told us that a Committee comprising representatives of several ministries would be created, to coordinate the activities in the tobacco sector. What happened to this structure, since then?
Valeriu Tabără: We had several meetings with the representatives of the associations of tobacco growers, at the ministry. Those meetings involved the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, of the Ministry of Health and of the associations in the industry, and they had a particular focus on tobacco subsidies.
Reporter: How big are those subsidies?
Valeriu Tabără: The special subsidy amounts to about 1,200 Euros/hectare, plus an additional 92.6 Euros - the subsidy of the SAPS and 32.3 Euros/hectare - the state's contribution for Diesel fuel.
Reporter: I understand that the subsidy for the tobacco crops is one of the issues of growers in the business. What other obstacles are they facing?
Valeriu Tabără: The number one problem is represented by the unjustified tobacco imports. Processors prefer to import tobacco rather than buy it domestically.
Reporter: Would we be able to handle the demand if the producers only bought from the domestic market?
Valeriu Tabără: We have the ability to grow enough t
