DATE: Saturday, June 21, 1997               TAG: 9706210317

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   36 lines

HAMPTON ROADS PORT DEPENDS MIGHTILY ON TOBACCO BUSINESS

Tobacco worth $2.2 billion, both cigarettes and leaf tobacco, was exported through the port of Hampton Roads in 1995.

Tobacco is the port's fourth-largest export commodity in terms of tonnage - about 266,000 tons in 1994 - and by far its most valuable.

Unmanufactured tobacco is also one of the port's major imports - sixth at 133,000 tons. U.S. cigarette manufacturers often blend American tobacco with Turkish, Greek and South American leaf.

The port is hardly reliant on tobacco, however. It accounted for 4.4 percent of the total general cargo tonnage the port handled in 1995.

Still, even that much is significant. The biggest concern port officials have expressed about the business is that manufacturers may shift cigarette production overseas to escape some pressure from the federal government and lawsuits.

If Philip Morris did the seemingly unthinkable and shuttered its Richmond plant, which makes 600 million cigarettes a day, it would more than likely devastate the port's tobacco business.

The giant Richmond-based cigarette maker is the port's second-biggest shipper. Two other tobacco firms are in the top 20. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

OTHER VIRGINIA FACTS

The state collected

$15.81 million in cigarette taxes during the fiscal year that

ended June 30, 1996.

Virginia's tax on a pack of cigarettes is 2.5 cents - the lowest

among the 50 states. KEYWORDS: HAMPTON ROADS PORT

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