Malawi: Tobacco Exporters Accused of Deceit on Forex Earnings

Source from:  Daily Times (mw)  01/05/2013

The Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) has accused some leaf merchants in the country of delaying foreign exchange earnings and transfer pricing in the export of tobacco.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Daily Times in Lilongwe on Monday, TCC Chief Executive Officer Bruce Munthali said the commission would work with the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) to counter the malpractice among the tobacco exporters.

"The country is losing out a lot because of the problems in the repatriation of export earnings in the export of tobacco," said Munthali.
 
The Reserve Bank of Malawi last year made similar accusations against tea industry exporters who, it said, e undervalued exports of the crop by US$25 million.
 
Munthali said, however, in the year 2012 the industry experienced a lot of positive developments including the introduction of Integrated Production System (IPS), devaluation of kwacha, new tobacco market in Asia as well as the revision exercise of the Tobacco Act.
 
"We managed to secure a market in south east Asia for 30 million kilogrammes of tobacco and that is a positive development in as far as tobacco marketing is concerned," said Munthali.
 
He said TCC also developed a new five year industry strategy to provide a road map of the industry's growth in production, exports and value addition.
 
On challenges, Munthali said apart from the delayed repatriation and price transfer, illegal cross border trade, reduced flu cured tobacco volumes and environmental degradation were some of the problems that affected the industry during the year.
 
Erratic rainfall also affected production, especially along the lake shore which resulted into reduced volumes for the leaf for the year.
 
Meanwhile, Munthali said the country is set to export all the tobacco that was bought during the marketing season as export consignments have started moving well due to, among other things, improved availability of fuel in the country. Enditem