Zimbabwe: Boka Floors Open

Source from:  The Herald 03/28/2011

BOKA Tobacco Floors yesterday successfully opened for business after completing renovations. But there was a slight glitch at the start of business due to delays in the laying of tickets. This resulted in 1 652 bales being sold out of 3 252 bales that had been booked to be sold. Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri said the first day of trading went well, despite the technical hitches at the start. "Being the first day I think everything went well, except for the few shortcomings in procedure which delayed trading. We however hope that these will be sorted out and they should be at the top of their game tomorrow (Friday)," he said. Dr Matibiri said they were also encouraged by the prices that obtained during the first day. "We had some good prices today with some of the tobacco selling for about US$4,20 per kg," he said. Dr Matibiri added that they were expecting Boka floors to lay a total of 3 000 bales for today's sale. Boka managing director, Matthew Boka was naturally elated after the successful opening of the floors following the completion of the US$4 million renovations. "Yes, I can confirm we managed to successfully open the floors to the farmers following completion of the refurbishments we undertook," he said. The running of the floors reverted to the hands of the owners, Boka Investments after the Boka family advised their tenants Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction Centre that they were cancelling their lease because they had run down the facility. The company also announced its intention to resume the tobacco auctions business. Boka Investments subsequently approached TIMB and was issued with a licence to trade ahead of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction Centre, which had been operating from the floors for nine years. The opening of the floors is expected to reduce congestion at the Tobacco Sales Floors, the only auction floor serving farmers since the opening of the marketing season last month. Farmers who complained that they were spending days without being served because of pressure had besieged the TSF. Over 20 million kg of the golden leaf has been sold so far this season. A total 170 million kg of tobacco is expected to be sold this season. Enditem