Analysis on Grade Quality of National Tobacco Leaves during Industry Commerce Handover

The grade quality of tobacco leaves was analyzed using the data from national supervision of tobacco leaf grading quality during industry commerce handover in 2005. The results showed that there was a significant difference of national grade quality among different tobacco growing regions with a wide range of acceptable percentage from 44.9％ to 71.5％. The qualified rate was generally low for the leaf grade with large purchase quantities or fine quality. Beside the business and management factors, the main problem of the low qualified rate resulted from widespread existence of the mutual confusion of leaves among stalk positions, colors and grades. Analysis of the grading component indicated that the proportion of the low quality grade leaves was much higher than that of the high quality grade leaf mixed in original grade, while the ratio of the low quality grade leaf mixed in higher grade was much higher than that in middle and lower grades. In addition, the proportion of the low quality grade leaf mixed in the leaves from the middle portion of the plant was higher than that from the upper and lower positions. Some suggestions were made for improving grade quality of tobacco.