Malawi Nets $10m in Tobacco Earning

Source from:  StarAfrica 05/05/2016

Malawi has earned $11 million from tobacco sales in three weeks compared to $21, 613 it realized last year during the same period of trading.According to Auction Holdings Limited (AHL), the country has so far sold a total of 8,336,035 kilograms of tobacco, compared to 15,273,175 kilograms sold the same period last year.

AHL Corporate and Communication Manager, Mark Ndipita said Wednesday that the drastic fall in earnings was due to low prices offered on the market by buyers.

"We have very low prices this year as compared to last year a development which has affected the total earnings in this period of trading," he said.

This year's prices are ranging from $0.80 to $1.20 while last year they were better starting from $1.00 to $2.50, he said.

Ndipita added that the fall is also attributed to interruptions of the tobacco market where for several times tobacco trading activities were suspended due to disagreements over prices.

He said there was hope that the prices will pick up soon, paving the way for Malawi to earn more foreign exchange from its tobacco.

Tobacco is Malawi's major exchange earner. Enditem