Zimbabwe: Timb Confident of Surpassing Target

Source from:  The Herald  05/02/2013

The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board is confident that tobacco deliveries will surpass the target of 170 million kilogrammes after more than 80 million kgs went under the hammer since the opening of the selling season in February.

TIMB statistics show that to date 27 328 contracted growers and 34 541 others have delivered tobacco against a total of 87 860 registered growers.

TIMB chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri on Friday said although most of registered growers had delivered their crop, there was still room to reach the 170 million kgs.

"Tobacco deliveries have picked," he said. "Deliveries are now averaging between 2,1 million kgs and 2,5 million kgs per day," he said.

Dr Matibiri said most farmers wait to sell the bulk of their crop towards the end of the season.

Boka Tobacco Floors operations manager Mr Moses Bias said the auction floor was "operating at full capacity and we are averaging 89 000 bales per day from both auction and contract sales".

"We are likely to meet the target considering the deliveries," he said. "We have also increased buying teams because of the huge deliveries."

Tobacco Sales Floor managing director Mr James Mutambanesango said although most small-scale farmers had sold their crop, most commercial farmers were yet to deliver their tobacco.

"Deliveries have increased and this can also be attributed to the recent holidays," he said. "However, next week (this week) we will be able to tell if we will get to the target."

Premier Tobacco Floor managing director Mr Philemon Mangena said they were now receiving about 4 000 bales per day. "Tobacco deliveries are still coming," he said. "We are only a few months into the selling season and we cannot conclude that we will miss the target."

Last year, 144,5 million kgs of tobacco were sold at four auction floors. Tobacco production has been on the increase due to the favourable prices being offered by buyers.

Many new farmers ventured into tobacco farming after they received land under the land reform with nearly 90 000 of them now registered with TIMB. Enditem