Zimbabwe: Oriental Tobacco Sales Set to Begin Tomorrow

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 25 June 2007 06/27/2007

ORIENTAL tobacco sales are set to begin on tomorrow, a Tobacco Industry Marketing Board official has said. "Oriental tobacco sales open on Tuesday and thereafter sales shall take place every week on Tuesdays," he said last week. TIMB's acting chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said at least 30 tonnes of the crop was expected to be sold under the current marketing season against 14 tonnes sold last year. "Farmers were given cropping inputs by a local cigarette manufacturer and there were favourable weather conditions during the growth and curing phases of the crop. The quality is excellent," Dr Matibiri said. Oriental tobacco is a special type of tobacco used for blending in the production of toasted cigarettes such as Madison. According to a circular to farmers from TIMB, sales in Harare were expected to be done by Export Leaf Tobacco, which would be buying all the oriental tobacco on behalf of BAT Zimbabwe. Decentralised sales are expected to be held in Gutu and Chivhu in July. In Gutu sales would be held on July 25 in Gutu Central and Raffimoyo School. Other sales would be done the on next day atRaffimoyo and Nyazvidzi schools in the morning and afternoon respectively and the last sale would be on July 27 at Nyazvidzi. In Chivhu sales are expected to commence on August 1 and 2 at Ushe Farm followed by sales on August 2 and 3 at Bvumbura School. Farmers are expected to be paid between US$0,50 and US$2,85 per kilogramme against US$0,25 to US$2,50 paid last year. This special type of tobacco is mainly used by companies such as BAT and Savanna Tobacco. This tobacco is mainly grown in the drier regions of the country including Masvingo, Buhera, Chivhu and Mvurwi. Enditem