1.
GV & SV's Tobacco shredded in machine (4 shots)
0.16

2.
GV's & SV's Tobacco being sorted and pushed through pipes and along conveyor belt (8 shots)
0.43

3.
GV & SV Loose tobacco being boxed for drying (5 shots)
1.14

4.
SV & GV Tobacco being put into cigarette-making machine (3 shots)
1.26

5.
SV's & CU's cigarettes off production line and stacked (8 shots)
1.58

6.
MV's Stacked cigarettes put into container (3 shots)
2.14

7.
MV & GV Stacked cigarettes put into machine for packaging (3 shots)
2.26

8.
SV's packaging machine in operation (4 shots)
2.35

9.
MV Employees put cigarettes into packets
2.40

10.
GV & SV's packets being put into cartons (5 shots)
2.56

11.
MV Cartons on machine being sealed
3.00

12.
MV Sealed cartons ready for dispatching (2 shots)
3.09



Initials ES. 1650 ES. 1715



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Jordan's most important tobacco company produces more than five tons of tobacco every day. Seventy per cent of the output is consumed locally.

The Jordan Tobacco and Cigarettes Company Limited employs 450 workers and produces all of the country's tobacco exports to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Lebanon and the Arabian Gulf countries. The latest electronic machines are used in the production process.

Jordan has recently been concentrating on increased industrial production in the light of declines in the tourism trade. Tobacco is one of the industries scheduled for heavier Government subsidies.

SYNOPSIS: Tobacco production in Jordan is increasing. Part of the Government's programme to replace revenue lost recently through tourism has been to subsidise industry, and tobacco is now a major contributing factor towards the national income.

The Jordan Tobacco and Cigarette Company Limited produces the country's total quota of tobacco exports. Blended cigarettes in English, American and Turkish fashion are produced from the factory and are exported to countries like Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the Arabian Gulf states.

The tobacco goes through three stages -- the raw intake is first sorted into quotas and dried in ovens to select the desired blend. The dried product is then shredded in machines and then passed into pipes to be machine-rolled into the finished quantity of cigarettes. The Jordan Tobacco and Cigarette Company produces about five tons of tobacco every day and about seventy per cent of that is consumed by local markets.

Customs duties on the cigarettes marked for export allow the Government to recoup about two million pounds sterling every year. The choice of three different kinds of blending allows the company to capture the best of the Middle East markets, and also to reach discerning smokers as for away as the Untied Kingdom, though in very small quantities. The increased emphasis on the tobacco industry has also brought employment to local inhabitants -- this company hires about 450 workers to supervise machines, and in some cases, such as specially measured cigarettes, pack boxes by ???
Cigarette production in Jordan neared the 2 million kilogramme mark in 1967 up until the June war. Following the battles, the Israeli army occupied some of the growing areas, and the tobacco industry was forced to rebuild over the years until the present day. With increased aid and the expansion of overseas markets however, production has now passed the 1967 figures and the finished products are once again contributing to the national economy.

Although Jordan has neither the conditions nor the area to produce tobacco on such scales as Rhodesia or the southern areas of the United State,s the industry's growth rate is still increasing. It still ranks fourth in the national economy, behind phosphates, cement and alcohol. Industrial observers, however, are predicting that better land usage and improved methods will enable the crop, and its manufacturing industries to dictate more attention in export circles.