
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 30, 1990                   TAG: 9007300044
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A/3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TOBACCO SALES TO BEGIN

Virginia's tobacco markets open Tuesday, a few weeks earlier than normal, and experts said the state's No. 1 cash crop is in good shape and will bring higher-than-average prices.

"I think it's going to be a good crop," said James L. Jones, a Virginia Cooperative Extension agronomist in Blackstone.

Jones and John Smoot, owner of Planter's Warehouse in Danville, said the tobacco crop has an even greater potential if the weather cooperates. "We need a couple more showers and it will be a bumper crop," Smoot said.

Some burlap bags filled with the golden, flue-cured leaves already are inside the tobacco warehouses. "It looks good from what I've seen on the floor," Smoot said.

Last year, 95.7 million pounds of tobacco was sold in Virginia markets for $162 million, or about $1.69 per pound, according to Kevin Harding of the Virginia Agriculture Statistics Service.

The service said a June 1 survey indicated the 52,290 acres of tobacco planted in the state was a 5 percent gain over last year's planting.

Tobacco is planted primarily south of the James River, with Pittsylvania County the biggest producer and Halifax County No. 2, Jones said.

Prices were about $9 higher per 100 pounds for the same grade of flue-cured tobacco when markets opened in Georgia last week and improved generally $4 to $11 per hundred in North Carolina, where markets also opened last week.

Jones and Wayne Brown, extension agent in Pittsylvania County, said because the quality of the leaf in Virginia is good, they expect higher prices to follow up the coast.

"That doesn't mean that's exactly what's going to happen here," Jones said. "It's a pretty good indicator, though."

Tobacco farmers ran into cold weather in June after planting a week or two earlier than normal, Jones said.

"That kind of set it back; there were some premature flowers," he said. "We got some rain then, and that turned tobacco around and the plants started to fill out."

Because of the early start, Smoot said, "It's going to be another two weeks before we really get into the swing."

by CNB