TIMB Revises Tobacco Output Upwards

Source from:  The Herald 06/28/2010

THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board has revised the national tobacco output target upwards by 17 percent as deliveries continue at the auction floors. The national target for the 2009/10 tobacco season was increased from 77 million kilogrammes to 93 million kilogrammes. If the revised target is achieved, the country could earn US$279 million at the prevailing seasonal average price of about US$3. So far just over 80 million kg have been sold through the auction and contract system surpassing the previous target of 77 million kg. As of Thursday last week, a total of 81,06 million kg of tobacco valued at US$242,7 million had gone under the hammer since the season began in February. The 81,06 million kg was above the 52,8 million kg that had been sold at the same time last year. Of the 81,06 million kg, 46,6 million kg valued at US$146,05 million was sold under the contract system while the balance of 34,4 million kg worth US$96,6 million was sold under the auction system. In terms of the 34,4 million kg sold under auction, 17,4 million worth US$48,9 million was sold at the Tobacco Sales Floor and the remaining 16,9 million kg valued at US$47,7 million went under the hammer at Zimbabwe Industry Auction Centre. According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, the first statistics were drawn after an early crop assessment where most of the tobacco crop had been affected by the dry spell that hit most parts of the country. But deliveries at the floors have shown that the bulk of the crop performed well despite the dry spell that affected part of tobacco. Farmers have continued delivering their crop to the floors as prices improved after the return of major buyers. Last month tobacco selling came to a halt as farmers boycotted low prices that were being offered by buyers which had gone below a dollar but daily prices have since improved to an average of US$2,80 per kg. Trading resumed after some major buyers resurfaced at the market and this also saw an improvement in the prices. The 2009/10 tobacco-selling season opened on a high note with the golden leaf fetching high prices on the market. Deliveries were overwhelming forcing the TIMB to re-introduce the booking system whereby farmers make a booking before delivering the crop to the floors. This decongested the auction floors and improved services. Tobacco production is set to increase next season as farmers are expected to increase hectarages. Projections are that the production levels of the golden leaf should increase to above 100 million kg while the long-term target is to get back to levels above 200 million kg. This, according to analysts, is not far-fetched due to the rich pickings that farmers are getting from selling their crop in hard currency. At its peak in 2000, tobacco production reached 236 million kg, a feat which saw the country emerging as the second largest producer of tobacco after Brazil. Enditem