Malawi: Tobacco Commission Fears for Malawi''s Economy

Source from:  Malawi24 03/04/2015

Malawi's Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) fears low yield projected this year with the 10 Million Kilograms loss will heavily affect the country's economy as its subsequent effect will be less forex.

This comes in amidst statistics at TCC which reveal that this year it is expected that the market will realise about 180 Million Kilograms, 10 million Kilograms short of last year's.

This is as a result of incessant rains that hit the nation in the recent times that even saw some of the districts that produce the crop largely being hit heavily by storm.

But according to TCC Executive Director, Dr Bruce Munthali, the loss usually has an automatic effect to the economy.

"This entails that the 10 Million Kilograms shortage will have Malawi fetch very little forex on the market and as such the economy is bound to stumble" Munthali was quoted as saying to a local radio.

He says that so far the TCC projects better produce in the north, with the poorest in the south.

Tobacco production in Malawi is one of the nation's largest sources of income. As of 2005, Malawi was the 12th largest producer of tobacco leaves and the 7th largest global supporter of tobacco leaves.

As of 2010, Malawi was the world's leading producer of burley leaf tobacco. With the decline of tobacco farms in the West, interest in Malawi's low-grade; high-nicotine tobacco has increased.

Today, Malawian tobacco is found in blends of nearly every cigarette smoked in industrialized nations including the popular and ubiquitous Camel and Marlboro brands. It is the world's most tobacco dependent economy. Enditem