Zimbabwe: China-Top-Zim-Tobacco-Importer

Source from:  The Southern Times 02/10/2015

Harare- Zimbabwe's tobacco exports to China for the first month of 2015 soared more than tenfold compared to the same period last year owing to the ever increasing appetite for the country's products by Beijing.

Statistics released by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) shows that Zimbabwe exported 19,1 million kg of tobacco valued at US$166,5 million to the Asian country in January this year compared to 1,3 million kg valued at US$11,9 million during the same period last year.

The crop was being sold at a price of US$8,72 per kg down from last year's US$9,39 per kg due to what analysts believe is a result of last year's huge stocks still staked in merchants' warehouses.

Zimbabwe exported a total of 23,6 million kg of tobacco in the first month of the year valued at $181, 7 million at an average price of $7,70 per kg compared to 5,5 million kg valued at $23,2 million at an average price of $4,22 according to TIMB.

According to the board's statistics South Africa, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium complete the top five export destinations for the Southern African country's tobacco in the first month of 2015.

An official from the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union (ZFCU) said China had a large population of smokers.

"China has the world's largest population and eventually has more smokers in the world than any other country, hence the increased demand for tobacco," the official said.

"Other traditional export markets are advocating for tobacco ban on health grounds, China is not following this. Chinese people are still smoking in their numbers when others are cutting down."

The official said the increased exports were also a result of the Look Eat Policy adopted by the Zimbabwean government at the turn of the millennium.

"China and Zimbabwe have excellent political and economic relations which have also seen more Chinese contractors financing tobacco farming in the country boosting production and directing their produce home," the official said.

TIMB figures also revealed that a total of 22 countries imported tobacco from Zimbabwe during the period under review compared to 26 in January 2014.

Other export destinations on the list include Hungary, Egypt, Vietnam, Botswana, Hong Kong, Sudan, the United States of America, Korea and New Zealand.

In the agriculture sector, tobacco is Zimbabwe's top foreign currency earner followed by sugar, horticulture and cotton. Enditem