Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/550325
64 tobaccoasia / Issue 3, 2015 (July/August) It provided Imperial with the opportunity to hire most of the existing Lorillard management, staff, and sales force. For a short period, the newly merged Reynolds and Lorillard also are required to provide Imperial with retail shelf space and to provide other opera- tional support during the transition. The most significant probable effect: Imperial Tobacco will go from a minor player in the US market to number three, with about a 10% market share. The second most significant effect: Camel and Newport are now on the same team. Could Auctions Make a Comeback in the US? Tobacco auctions nearly disappeared when com- panies started contracting in the early 2000s, but a handful of auction warehouses have kept the mar- keting concept alive. Now, overplantings strongly suggest that the market will be awash in excess production in September and October. Could auc- tions be the place to go with it? Mann Mullen, the owner of Big M Warehouse in Wilson, N.C., says an auction is going to be the best choice to get the best price for uncommitted leaf. "I believe that the farmers who sell here will get the best price they possibly can," Mullen says. "I certainly think they will gain more in higher price than the commission we charge." Competition is the key: There are at least six buyers at every sale at Big M, and he expects that many this season. Most are dealers. Rather than a traditional "live" auction, Mullen runs a sealed bid auction, where buyers review the tobacco one bale at a time and make their bids in writing. Farmers have the right of refusal of a bid. "If they want, we offer it again at the follow- ing sale," Mullen says. "Everything offered on our floor has entered the trade." THE USDA JUNE 30 ESTIMATE FOR PLANTINGS Acreage projections plus estimated change for 2014 FLUE-CURED US 206,800 acres 16% below 2014. North Carolina 160,000 acres 16% below 2014. Virginia 19,500 acres down 13% South Carolina 14,300 acres down 9 % Georgia at 13,000 acres down 13% BURLEY US 84,000 acres down 17% from last year. Kentucky 62,000 acres down 18% North Carolina 1,100 acres down 21% Ohio 1,900 acres down 5% Pennsylvania 4,700 acres down 7% Tennessee 13,000 acres down 16% Virginia 1,300 acres down 13% OTHER TYPES Fire-cured tobacco 17,450 acres down 6 % (Kentucky/Tennessee/Virginia) Dark air-cured tobacco 6,200 acres up 1% (Kentucky/Tennessee) Cigar types 4,500 acres down 6% (Connecticut/Massachusetts/Pennsylvania) Southern Maryland 2,000 acres no change (Pennsylvania) All US tobacco 320,950 acres down 15% CANADA Flue-cured (Ontario) 15,539 acres down 28% contention was vague, and only seemed to imply that AOI and Universal personnel are better at monitoring treatment of workers than PMI per- sonnel would be, which seems unlikely. Who Got What in the R.J. Reynolds/ Lorillard Merger? Reynolds divested itself to Imperial the cigarette brands Winston, Kool, Salem, and Maverick and the e-cigarette blu. All but Maverick were Reynolds brands. Reynolds also divested to Imperial Loril- lard's factory and other facilities in Greensboro, NC. Michael Gregory sprays for insects on his flue-cured field near Four Oaks, N.C. (This scene took place about an hour before the plowing scene.) The Stars and Stripes fly in front of the building where China Tobacco International (North America) N.C. office is housed. It is in southwest Raleigh, N.C., just a stone's throw from the town of Cary. The smaller flag on the pole is the state flag