China Plants Less Tobacco

The area planted to tobacco in China this year decreased to nearly one million hectares, down by 16,000 hectares over last year, according to the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA).

The inventories of tobacco in the country also decreased to three billion kilograms, 725 million kg less than that in 1998, said a report released today by the STMA.

In 1998, the state set a target of cutting tobacco stock by one billion kg in three years.

China produced 820.2 billion cigarettes during the January-June period, up 2.9 percent over last year's same period.

Meanwhile, cigarette sales in the country totaled 817.2 billion, a growth of 3.1 percent year-on-year, the STMA report said.

With improved efficiency, the tobacco industry turned in 53.8 billion yuan in taxes to the state in the first half of this year, up 10.94 percent from a year earlier.

People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/