Zimbabwe: Tobacco Sales Rake in US$76,8 Million

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) 25 June 2008 06/26/2008

Zimbabwe has to date earned US$76,8 million from tobacco sales since the opening of the marketing season at the end of April, latest figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) show. Sales at the country's three auction floors, however, take a breather from today to Friday to pave way for the joint presidential election run-off and by-elections. TIMB chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri told New Ziana yesterday that the auction floors would resume trading on Monday next week. A total of 24,4 million kgs of the golden leaf have been sold to date. The crop has been sold at an average price of US$3,18 using an inter-bank exchange rate of $5,82 billion against the US dollar. A total of 14,9 million kgs of tobacco, which has gone under the hammer, have been sold under contract while the remainder was sold under the individual system. The total mass sold to date is 50,6 million kgs short of the 75 million kgs that authorities expected to go under the hammer before the season comes to an end in the next two months. Last year, 74 million kgs were sold during the marketing season. Enditem