Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal has considered to allow the sale of the excess flue cured Virginia tobacco produced by registered growers and unauthorized flue cured Virginia tobacco produced by unregistered growers without any penalty considering the low production during the 2022-2023 Karnataka Crop season.

In Karnataka, during this crop season, 40,207 farmers cultivated FCV tobacco in an area of 60,782 hectares.  The total production of FCV tobacco in Karnataka remained  at 59.78 million kgs  against the crop size of 100.00 million kgs fixed by Tobacco Board , due to continuous rains during months of June and July 2022.  

The decision of imposing no penalty  on the sale of excess FCV tobacco will greatly benefit the farmers of Karnataka to recover the loss due to less production during this crop season. This consideration will hand hold the FCV tobacco farmers to overcome their financial plight inflicted due to low production  and low earning and would greatly help the growers to continue their livelihood.

No-penalty sale of excess tobacco on auction platforms enables affected growers to sell surplus crop after low yield. The government authorised penalty-free sale of excess flue-cured Virginia tobacco by registered growers and unauthorized FCV tobacco by unregistered growers on auction platforms for the 2022-23 Karnataka crop season to enable affected producers to sell stock, mitigate financial distress from low yields, and support livelihoods through market access as temporary regulatory forbearance.