1384.6 - Statistics - Tasmania, 2005  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 22/04/2004   
   Page tools: Print Print Page Print all pages in this productPrint All  

Tasmania is the only Australian State where poppies can be grown legally; the industry supplies about 40% of the world's legal opiate requirements.

The main varieties of poppy grown are morphine and thebaine, with each plant producing between two and eight capsules. The capsules contain the compounds used in the manufacture of pain-killers. A by-product is the blue poppy seed, which is sold to the food and spice industries.

Growth of the industry can be gauged from the table below; area cultivated has more than doubled in four years. For reasons of confidentiality the ABS publishes only data on area of poppies under cultivation.


OIL POPPIES, Area, Tasmania

Years ended 31 March
'000 ha

1996
7
1997
8
1998
11
1999
12
2000(a)
15

(a) Year ended 30 June.

Source: ABS data available on request, Agricultural Survey and Census.