Centre permits sale of excess tobacco in Andhra Pradesh for 2025-26 crop season

The Centre has allowed registered and unregistered tobacco growers in Andhra Pradesh to sell excess Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco from the 2025-26 crop season at Tobacco Board-authorised auction platforms. The move follows a government review of prevailing market conditions in the state

New Delhi: The Centre has permitted the sale of excess ‘Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco’ of registered and unregistered growers in Andhra Pradesh for the 2025-26 crop season at the auction platforms authorised by the Tobacco Board, according to a commerce ministry notification.

Flue-cured tobacco is tobacco dried in a special, smoke-free barn using heat channelled through metal pipes, or flues.

---

In July, a team from the Department of Commerce, led by Additional Secretary Nitin Kumar Yadav, visited Andhra Pradesh to review the current market conditions for this tobacco.

The centre has relaxed the operation of a provision of the Tobacco Board Act in Andhra Pradesh “for the auctions during the crop season 2025-2026, and permits the sale of excess Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco of the registered growers and unauthorised Flue-Cured Virginia tobacco of the unregistered growers at the auction platforms authorised by the Tobacco Board,” the notification dated September 24 said.