Tobacco must be bought at 10, not 5 euros per kilogram as offered by the buyers. Costs have increased rapidly, production has decreased, although it is of high quality, but profitability must be achieved. For the tobacco farmers, for the buyers and for the state, it was ascertained at the forum in Prilep on tobacco production organized by the National Agricultural Network. The tribune of several tobacco associations from the country was held in the Prilep city library “Borka Taleski”.
The purpose of this tribune was to get together, to review the current situation with the purchase of tobacco and to determine a common position on what to do next. as a national agricultural network, we are of the opinion that this year tobacco must be paid at least 10 euros per kilo, because we have rapidly increased costs, reduced production, and the quality has doubled and tripled, so we cannot agree to order tobacco at 5 euros for kilo. It is not economically sustainable. We sought to meet with our fellow tobacconists to build a common vision. I think we agreed on that and the conclusion of this forum is that the requested price is justified and that we all stand firm on the demand for that price of 10 euros per kilogram of tobacco. In order to realize this, we will ask the department of the Ministry of Agriculture for a mediation to meet with the purchasing companies to convey our position that we do not sell tobacco for five euros or 300 denars and that our economic price is 10 euros and that we will not deviate from it until the end, said the president of the National Agricultural Network Gjorgi Karakashev.
