Rome, October 5, 2016 – JTI signed today a renewed agreement with MIPAAF for the purchase of Italian Tobacco for a period of four years (2017-2020) , at a press conference attended by Maria Elena Boschi, Minister for Constitutional Reform, Maurizio Martina, Minister of Agriculture, as well as Vassilis Vovos, President of the JTI Western Europe Region, and PierCarlo Alessiani, Chairman and Managing Director of JTI Italia.
This commitment represents a further estimated 160 million Euro[1] for the local industry, bringing JTI’s total investment in the Italian tobacco sector to 620 million Euro by 2020.
“Our agreement means a significant financial commitment toward the purchase of Italian leaf over the next four years,” said Vassilis Vovos. “It reflects our support to the many growers and workers who represent an important activity in Italy, and to a tobacco leaf which has always met our worldwide quality standards.”
PierCarlo Alessianicommented: “JTI is proud of this agreement because of the Italian tobacco chain’s excellence and its importance to our country. For the first time, the company is committing to a four-year Memorandum of Understanding designed to secure further stability for the Italian tobacco sector.”
JTI’s ten-year cooperation with the Italian tobacco sector involves over 1,700 workers in the cultivation, harvesting and primary processing of the crop and the purchase of approximately 128 thousand tonnes of leaf for an overall value of over 460 million Euro since 2005.
Until today JTI had a number of of three-year purchase commitments with the Ministry of Agriculture. Today’s four-year agreement, has the objective of guaranteeing greater stability to the Italian tobacco chain through purchases of leaf and the application of the Agricultural Labour Practices (ALP), Good Agriculture Practice (GAP) and Minimum Agronomic Standards (MAS) to ensure sustainability and improved working conditions for the sector in the long term.
Since 2012, JTI has supported the sector through commercial agreements with Consorzio TTI (Trasformatori Tabacco Italia), which over time has become a model of efficiency that has attracted an ever increasing number of growers from the various Italian tobacco growing regions.
[1] Value based on average historical prices