SPECIALISTS IN ORIENTAL TOBACCOS

ABOUT US

Socotab (Société Commerciale de Tabac) was founded in 1923 in Antwerp, Belgium, principally exporting Russian Sukhumi tobaccos to France and the USA.
In the following years, business was developed in Turkey and Greece, eventually expanding into North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

“Oriental Tobacco is to an American blend cigarette what pepper and salt is to a steak.”

From the start,

the company has exclusively specialized in Oriental tobaccos and continues to do so today.

Socotab is one of the leading oriental leaf Tobacco merchants in the world, supplying quality, compliant oriental tobacco to the world’s top cigarette manufacturers.

ln 1998 Socotab partnered with Universal Leaf Tobacco Company, Inc. (NYSE: UVV), which is the leading global leaf tobacco supplier, headquartered in Richmond, VA, USA, with operations in over 30 countries.

The Crops

WHAT WE DO

Socotab has operations in all of the classical oriental growing regions and

purchases processes and sells all varieties
of classical oriental leaf tobaccos.

Our product is sourced from more than 35’000 individual farming partners with which
we have growing contracts, and who are located in Turkey, North Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria.

Each year, Socotab contracts thousands of specialized farmers to produce the highest quality oriental tobacco possible.

HOW WE DO IT

Each year, Socotab contracts thousands of specialized farmers to produce the highest quality
oriental tobacco possible. We have dedicated teams of skilled agronomists and field technicians
who are available to provide recommendations and advice, while also providing information
to the company about the evolution of the crops.

When the crops are ready, our technicians assess the quality according to pre-agreed scales
of prices and the tobacco is then transported to our central warehouses.
Payment to the farmers is effected within one week, usually directly to their bank accounts.

Once the tobacco is received in-house, we perform various quality checks after which
we create individual recipes to meet the blend requirements of our various customers.
We then process and pack the tobaccos in our state-of-the-art factories,
while constantly checking the quality of the product in our in-house laboratories.
Finally, the tobaccos are kept in our dedicated storage facilities until such time
as we ship them to our customers.

ORIENTAL TOBACCO

Oriental tobacco is special in many ways:

  • The highest quality orientals are grown under special conditions, unique to the areas in which we operate.
  • The combination of seed-type and growing practices create the aroma in the leaf, which is much smaller than the other main varieties of tobacco.
  • All oriental tobacco is cured using natural sunlight only, in specially designed curing frames.

OUR FARMING PARTNERS

Our farming partners are mainly private,
small-scale, traditional family units,
who have been in the business for generations,
and whose main « cash crop » is oriental tobacco.

Of course, traditional does not mean old-fashioned and we spend much time, energy and money on ensuring that our partners are up-to-date on many of the important issues of our day.

One of the advantages of being a group spanning across several countries, is that we are able to standardize our educational material, thus ensuring that our growers implement best practices in terms of agro-chemical usage, environmental protection and labor issues (especially child labor), regardless of their location.

OUR INFRASTRUCTURE

Socotab Frana SA acts as the commercial, operational,
and financial center of the Socotab Group.

We have three factories:
Our processing facilities in Turkey and North Macedonia handle
the tobaccos grown in those two countries, while our Bulgarian
factory handles tobaccos grown in the EU
(i.e. Bulgaria and Greece).

Our facilities are constantly being updated to make sure
that they are equipped with the latest technology to ensure
efficient handling while also guaranteeing that every box
of tobacco is packed within the tight specifications
of our customers.
Furthermore, we ensure that all of our facilities operate
at the highest level of safety for our personnel.

SUSTAINABILITY & REPORTING

In today’s world, businesses are judged by more than just their financial results.  Indeed, beyond making a profit, modern society expects companies to actively contribute to the well-being of their stakeholders as well as be guardians of the natural resources that they use.  At Socotab, we have had these values for many years and are now proud to be able to describe them more formally in the form of Policies and Procedures.

As part of our Responsible Business Practices, it is our responsibility to not only implement these processes, but to also share them with our stakeholders in order for us to have a transparent and effective way of being held accountable.  Simply click on the link herebelow to explore our company’s policies.  We welcome your thoughts.

Sustainability & reporting Compliance Hot Line

CONTACT

HEADQUARTERS
Socotab Frana SA
82, rue de Lausanne
1202 Genève
SWITZERLAND

Tel: +41 22 908 3500
Fax: +41 22 908 3525
e-mail: frana@socotab.com

BULGARIA
Socotab EOOD
4202 Radinovo
Plovdiv District
BULGARIA

Tel: +359 32 904 140
Fax: +359 32 904 150
e-mail: bg.info@socotab.com

TURKEY
Socotab Yaprak Tütün
Kemalpaşa OSB Mahallesi
İzmir Caddesi No: 87/1
35735 Kemalpaşa
Izmir
TURKEY

Tel: +90 232 877 02 50
Fax: +90 232 877 02 57/8
e-mail: tr.info@socotab.com

GREECE
Socotab EOOD Greek Branch
Terma Ethnikou Stadiou kai Martiou
Location Tria Pigadia
60 100 Katerini
GREECE

Tel: +30 2 3510 49 970
Fax: +30 2 3510 49 980
e-mail: gr.info@socotab.com

NORTH MACEDONIA
Socotab DOOEL Bitola
Dragozhani
7000 Bitola
MACEDONIA
Tel: +389 47 212 400
Fax: +389 47 212 450
e-mail: mk.info@socotab.com

USA
Socotab – Durham Corp.
2285 Brook Cove Road
Walnut Cove
NC 27052
USA

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