Zimbabwe: Long Queues At Auction Floors

Source from:  The Herald  03/29/2013

Long queues have resurfaced at the tobacco auction floors as more farmers continue to deliver their crop ahead of the Easter holidays starting tomorrow.

All the three auction floors had long queues of delivery vehicles yesterday, while police officers were controlling the vehicles to maintain order.
 
According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, the Easter holidays have triggered tobacco deliveries to increase from an average of 1,5 million kgs per day to 1,7m kgs for both auction and contract sales.
 
Tobacco Sales Floor managing director Mr James Mutambanesango said the deliveries started picking on Monday and by Tuesday the floors were congested with tobacco growers.
 
Mr Mutambanesango said most of the people who were outside the complex were not tobacco growers, but vendors who were selling their wares.
 
"The increase in deliveries has been caused by the Easter holiday. Many farmers would want to sell their crop so that they have cash during the long holiday," he said.
 
Mr Mutambanesango said most farmers had finished reaping their crop and were concentrating on curing and selling.
 
"We have been conducting two sales of 6 000 bales per day and now that deliveries have picked, there is a need for a third sale," he said. "Things can improve if we sell a minimum of 9 000 bales per day."
 
At Premier Tobacco Floors, there were long queues at the TIMB offices as farmers wanted to book for sales.
 
The farmers had brought their crop for sale without having made prior booking arrangements. Some tobacco farmers said they were used to bringing their crop for sale and making the booking arrangements at the floors.
 
Mrs Patricia Masara of Centenary said she delivered her crop yesterday morning and was going to sell it the next day.
 
"We have booked and we are going to sell tomorrow. The systems have improved and it does not take much time to book," she said.
 
The huge volume of deliveries are expected to last until April when farmers would be selling their crop to get school fees.
 
TIMB chairperson Mrs Monica Chinamasa said they were expecting the deliveries to peak towards the Easter holiday, but this could not be described as congestion.
 
The weekly sales rose from 7,5 million kgs for the fifth week to the current 8,6 million kgs. Seasonal sales increased to 31,7 million kgs at an average price of US$3,69 per kg, three cents firmer than the previous week. Enditem