Zimbabwe Tobacco Earnings up by Nearly 22 Percent

Source from:  Xinhua  08/25/2006

Zimbabwe's foreign currency earnings from tobacco has grown by 21.98 percent from that of last year thanks to stable price of the product, despite a decline in crop deliveries, said the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board on Tuesday. According to the statistics released by the board, a total of 46.4 million kg of tobacco worth 93.8 million U.S. dollars had been sold by last Friday, compared with 49.4 million kg worth 76.9 million dollars during the same period last year. It showed that the firm prices and high quality pushed up earnings, although the production declined. The golden leaf fetched an average price of 2.01 dollars per kg this year compared to 1.55 dollars last year. Out of the 46.4 million kg sold so far, 20.8 million kg were sold through the auction system while 25.6 million through the contract system. The golden leaf sold through the auction fetched an average price of 1.91 dollars per kg, less than the 2.10 dollars that prevailed for sales through the contract system. Estimated 50 million kg are expected to go under the hammer this year, compared with 70 million last year. Tobacco is one of Zimbabwe's major foreign currency earners. Enditem