Products
Indian tobacco, grade by grade
Bidi, FCV Virginia, Burley, air-cured leaf, and the by-products. Each style carries the usual trade range.
The leaf
What the offer looks like before it is packed.
These pictures are starting points. Replace any of them in the editor with your own crop, grade, or warehouse photographs.
Bidi tobacco is the shipped record. The styles below are the Indian FCV, Burley, air-cured and by-product range. Crop size, colour, chemistry and markets are the usual trade ranges for that style. The offer sheet for a lot confirms the crop year.
Bidi tobacco
Leaf, cut leaf and scrap for bidi manufacturers. This is the volume on the Achievements page, supplied through the year from packed stock.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Forms | Whole leaf, cut leaf, scrap and refuse |
| Record | 7,898 MT+ exported, 2011–12 to 2025–26 |
| Packing | Agreed before the lot is booked |
| Supply | Repeat programmes across the financial year |
Flue-cured Virginia
Karnataka Light Soils (KLS)
Monsoon crop from Mysore, Hassan, Shimoga, Davangere, Coorg, Chikkamagaluru and Chitradurga. Light to medium body, soft, open-grained, used as a premium neutral filler.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 90 million kg |
| Marketed | September to February |
| Type | Premium neutral filler, over-ripe |
| Colour | Lemon to lemon orange |
| Leaf size | Thin to medium |
| Pore volume | 0.13 ml/gm |
| Filling value | 2.6 to 3.8 cc/gm |
| Nicotine | 1.3 to 2.5% |
| Reducing sugars | 16.0 to 24.0% |
| Chlorides | 0.1 to 0.2% |
| Usual markets | UK, Germany, France, Italy, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh |
Northern Light Soils (NLS)
Sandy to sandy-loam soils in East and West Godavari and parts of Khammam. Raised with 7–8 irrigations. Semi-flavourful, ripe, open-grained and fluffy.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 42 million kg |
| Marketed | February to July |
| Type | Flavourful to semi-flavourful, over-ripe |
| Colour | Lemon orange to orange / mahogany |
| Leaf size | Large and oily |
| Pore volume | 0.13 ml/gm |
| Filling value | 2.2 to 2.8 cc/gm |
| Nicotine | 2.2 to 3.5% |
| Reducing sugars | 10.0 to 18.0% |
| Chlorides | 0.5 to 1.5% |
| Usual markets | UK, Germany, France, Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh |
Southern Light Soils (SLS)
Semi-monsoon crop on the light soils of Prakasam and Nellore. Thin to medium, ripe, open grain, low nicotine, used as a neutral filler.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 45 million kg |
| Marketed | February to July |
| Type | Neutral filler, ripe |
| Colour | Lemon to lemon orange |
| Leaf size | Thin and medium |
| Pore volume | 0.13 ml/gm |
| Filling value | 2.6 to 3.5 cc/gm |
| Nicotine | 1.5 to 2.5% |
| Reducing sugars | 10.0 to 18.0% |
| Usual markets | UK, Germany, Benelux, Egypt, Nepal |
Southern Black Soils (SBS)
Coastal black soils of Prakasam and Nellore. Lemon to lemon-orange, medium body. Rated above NBS and CBS for blending in cigarette manufacture.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 50 million kg |
| Marketed | March to July |
| Type | Colour filler |
| Colour | Lemon to lemon orange |
| Leaf size | Small to medium |
| Nicotine | 2.0 to 2.8% |
| Reducing sugars | 10.0 to 20.0% |
| Usual markets | Ukraine, Moldova, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Bulgaria, UK, Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal |
Northern Black Soils (NBS)
Rainfed heavy clay in Karimnagar, Khammam, East and West Godavari. Good body, long leaf, bright lemon-orange, medium nicotine. A plainer style.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 15 million kg |
| Marketed | March to July |
| Colour | Lemon bright |
| Leaf size | Large |
| Nicotine | 1.6 to 2.8% |
| Reducing sugars | 10.0 to 18.0% |
Central Black Soils (CBS)
Rainfed black soils of Krishna and Guntur. Character is close to Northern Black Soils: planted in October, harvested December to February.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Planted | October |
| Harvested | December to February |
| Character | Similar to Northern Black Soils |
Burley, air-cured and by-products
Eastern Light Soils — Burley (ELS)
Light-soil Burley on the hill slopes of the Eastern Ghats, Vijayanagaram in Andhra Pradesh and Rayagada in Odisha. Thin, fluffy, low-nicotine filler. Quality is close to NLS.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 8 million kg |
| Marketed | November to January |
| Type | Air-cured filler, thin to medium, over-ripe |
| Nicotine | 0.8 to 1.5% |
| Reducing sugars | 0.8 to 1.2% |
| Usual markets | Germany, France, UK, Iran, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal |
HDBRG
Air-cured cigarette leaf from pockets of Guntur. Light to medium body, widely used in the roll-your-own trade.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 40 million kg |
| Marketed | May to August |
| Type | Air-cured filler, medium to heavy, mature |
| Colour | Tan |
| Nicotine | 1.5 to 4.0% |
| Reducing sugars | 1.0 to 1.4% |
| Usual markets | European Union and South Asia |
Indian air-cured
Dark air-cured leaf from Andhra Pradesh, medium to heavy, preferred as butted loose leaf and hand strips for manufacture and pipe tobacco.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 20 million kg |
| Marketed | February to August |
| Type | Dark air-cured with aroma, medium to heavy |
| Colour | Tan to dark tan |
| Nicotine | 3.5 to 5.0% |
| Reducing sugars | 0.9 to 1.4% |
| Usual markets | UK and Egypt |
By-products — stem and FCV scrap
Stem and FCV fines, including semi-bright and bright scrap, used by smaller manufacturers and the bidi industry.
| Detail | Figure |
|---|---|
| Crop size | Around 20 million kg |
| Marketed | January to September |
| Stem forms | Long stem, short stem and stem bits |
| Stem size | Short about 1.3 cm; long 3.8–6.4 cm |
| Stem nicotine | 0.5 to 1.0% |
| Stem sugars | 1.0 to 12.0% |
| Scrap type | Bright and semi-bright |
| Scrap size | Through 1/4–1/8 inch and 1/8–1/16 inch |
| Scrap nicotine | 1.0 to 1.5% |
| Scrap sugars | 2.0 to 8.0% |
FCV plant position
On an FCV offer the position on the stalk is named with the colour and the grade. These are the four positions.
| Position | Where it sits | How it is used |
|---|---|---|
| Primings | Lower stalk | Thinner leaf, filler |
| Cutters | Lower-middle | More open leaf, blend filler |
| Leaf | Upper-middle | More body and oil |
| Tips | Top of the plant | Fuller body |
Trade enquiries
Tell us the grade, crop, and quantity.
Share your specification and shipment window. We reply with availability from the current crop.