Archived Issues

Universal closes plant in Danville, Virginia

Universal Leaf North America closed its tobacco processing facility in Danville, Virginia, USA.

The company is consolidating all of its U.S. processing into its Nash County, North Carolina, facility.

W. Keith Brewer, president of Universal, said, “The decision to close the Danville facility was extremely difficult given our long history of operations there and the wrenching personnel issues involved. However, as a result of the sharp decline in domestic flue-cured and burley production since 2000, there is now processing overcapacity in the United States. Given the current crop sizes in the United States, we can accommodate all of our U.S. processing volumes in our Nash County facility.”