SIMUNYE: “WE ARE ONE”
This was the motto of the GTNF 2013 which has taken place in Cape Town from 6th to 8th November with around 300 delegates coming from all over the world.
But prior to this conference I had the opportunity to join the field trip from 4th to 6th, which was a very interesting combination of learning about the country and also the industry. In the early morning (5:30 am) we had the chance to go on a safari to see wild animals (lions, elephants, rhinos, zebras, …) and after breakfast we began to visit some tobacco related companies. On the first day, we visited a market in Johannesburg, where we had opportunity to see the selling of illegal cigarettes to customers – illicit trade is a huge problem in South Africa!
On the second day, we visited a tobacco farmer who is growing 65 hectares of Virginia tobacco. Starting from the seed, the small plants are taken care of in the nursery. When they reach a certain size, they are planted to the field and when they have the right size, they are harvested. The tobacco is air-cured in barns on the farm ground, and after sorting, it is going to the green leaf factory where we could see how this tobacco is processed. This process is very similar to a tobacco primary process, and each and every piece of the tobacco leaf is used in a certain way. The most impressive fact for me was that each incoming tobacco bale is assigned to one of more than 100 grades! This is done by very experienced workers only by looking at and feeling the tobacco leaves On the third day, we were visiting a packaging production where the raw carton boards are changed into nicely printed packing material for all kinds of cigarette packs.
Returning to the conference, there were a couple of major topics to be mentioned: first of all illicit trade, which is a growing problem all around the globe. Then, there is the change of the tobacco market where the new products like e-cigarettes play a much bigger role than I personally had expected – in Germany, they are not very well-represented yet. However, this is already completely different in other countries. Last but not least, these topics also influence the green leaf market. A big topic here is the wellbeing of the farmers, their education and childcare.
Xavo is a proud sponsor of this event. Over the last couple of years, we worked very hard to be able to present at the conference our contributions and solutions for the topic of Track & Trace in the tobacco industry. Today, we are able to support you with huge consulting competence around this topic. Together with our partners, we can to turn this knowledge into very valuable solutions.
If you are interested please visit: www.xavo.com/trackandtrace
I am really hoping to getting in contact with you very soon.
Yours sincerely
Uwe Schey
