Zimbabwe: Auction Floors Reject 8 596 Bales

Source from:  The Herald 03/15/2011

A TOTAL of 8 596 bales have been rejected at the auction floors and contract market. This represents an increase of 24 percent from last season where 7 958 bales had been rejected during the same period. According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, an average of 500 bales are being rejected every day. TIMB said the bales were being rejected for being oversize, overweight or underweight. Some of the tobacco is also being rejected for being too dry or too wet while other bales cannot be sold because of moulds. By day 14, at least 4 601 bales had been rejected at the auction floors while 4 355 were unacceptable at contract market. The 3 386 bales rejected were mouldy while 2 492 were mixed hands. Some tobacco growers are, however, withdrawing their bales because of low prices that would have been offered for their crop. So far, farmers have withdrawn 1 290 bales from the sales. Some farmers complained that officials at the auction floors were just rejecting bales so that they rip off growers of their hard-earned money. Centenary farmer, Mr Nathan Hama said most farmers were now confused by the way tobacco was being sold. "The officials are just rejecting our crop without giving us proper evidence for their reasons. For instance you are just told the bale has been rejected for mixed hands without being shown the mixed hands," he said. Hurungwe farmer, Ms Lizzy Mbuzi said she suspected foul play. "We are paying US$0,25 per kilogramme for the re-packing of our crop by the floor officials and you do not see any difference after the process. We are also afraid the officials may steal part of our crop and make their own bales, which they may later sell," she said. However, only registered tobacco growers are allowed to sell the crop at the auction floors. More than 8,2 million kilogrammes of tobacco worth US$24,7 million have been sold since the opening of the selling season at an average price of US$3 per kilogramme. Enditem