Zimbabwe: Tobacco Deliveries Continue to Trickle in

Source from:  The Herald 08/25/2011

LOW tobacco deliveries have continued trickling in at the auction floors despite the announcement of a closing date. Normally tobacco volumes delivered to the floors increase towards the end of the selling season but this has not been the case this season. Boka Tobacco Floor director, Ms Rudo Boka said the low deliveries were an indication that most farmers sold their crop. "We also expected an improvement in the tobacco deliveries as we go towards the end of the season but this has not been the case. Business is low and it shows tobacco growers no longer have the crop," she said. She, however, said deliveries could pick up during the mop up sales, which were conducted after the closing of the auction floors. The flue-cured tobacco-selling season is officially closing although contract sales will continue. Meanwhile, 130,1 million kilogrammes of the crop had been sold by day 121. This is below the 170m kg that are expected to go under the hammer this season. Although contract sales will continue, the low volumes of tobacco deliveries have indicated that the industry may fail to beat the target. Some tobacco experts say that the target was a bit exaggerated, while others say the target is arrived at after considering seed sales. Last season the country surpassed the target, reviewing it upwards three times. The year 2010 marked the first time in eight years that the country hit the 100 million kilogramme mark. Tobacco has been on the increase during the past few years because of "better" prices the crop is fetching on the market. A number of small-scale farmers have turned to tobacco production, as it has become a lucrative business. Zimbabwe is slowly regaining its status as the country's major tobacco producer in the world. Enditem