Zimbabwe Tobacco Sales Down 31% Print Friendly Version

Source from:  zwnews.com AFP Thu 31-Aug-2006  09/01/2006

Article Type : News The figure would be the worst since independence Harare - Zimbabwe's once vibrant tobacco sector was likely to hit a new all-time low on Wednesday on the final day of the auction season with sales set to fall by 31 percent over the previous year, an official said. Andrew Ferreira, vice-president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association, said that sales were expected to cross the 50 million kilogram threshold by close of trading, but the figure would still be the worst since independence in 1981. "We are expecting that by the end of the day at least 50 million kilograms of the crop would have gone through across the three floors," Ferreira said, of the auction season which began in April. "This year's US dollar pricing was actually good as the average price across the floors was ranging between $1.90 to $1.91," he said. Once a leading exporter, tobacco farming in Zimbabwe has fallen on hard times, which critics and economists blame on President Robert Mugabe's land seizures, fuel and fertiliser shortages and disputes over pricing. Tobacco sales rebounded to 73 million kilograms last year after dropping to 64 million in 2004, but was still a far cry from the record 237 million kilograms moved off the auction floors in 2000. Enditem