LOUISVILLE, KY – The fight by U.S. burley farmers continues, as they seek to protect their export sales from a new Canadian law, the Associated Press reports.
The group has asked U.S. trade officials to take their complaint to the World Trade Organization (WTO), with the intent of protecting their crop from Canada's tobacco crackdown. They also want to "head off" similar foreign laws from impeding the export of burley.
Export markets are "absolutely critical" to the tobacco industry and laws similar to Canada's "could have an absolutely devastating economic impact [on burley farmers]," said Erica Peterson, executive vice president of the North Carolina Agribusiness Council.
Canada's new law is aimed at reducing youth smoking by banning the sale of tobacco scented with candy and fruit flavors. U.S. tobacco advocates claim that the law overreaches by covering burley, which is laced with flavors only to smooth its harsh taste.
"This act is far broader than necessary to meet its laudable objective," explained several tobacco groups in a written statement to the U.S. trade representative's office. "As a result, it will unjustifiably reduce opportunities for U.S. exports of burley tobacco to Canada, and could significantly restrict global exports of burley tobacco if other countries follow Canada's lead."
Tobacco supporters maintain that the law violates Canada's trade obligations and they want the issue raised at a WTO meeting in Geneva later this month.
About 80 percent of American burley is exported. Cigarettes that include burley represent roughly 1 percent of the Canadian smoking market.
"We're hopeful this thing will be reversed," said Roger Quarles, a Kentucky burley grower and president of the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association in Lexington, Kentucky.