Zimbabwe: 200m kg Of Tobacco To Go Under Hammer During 2018 Marketing Season

Source from:  Journalducameroun.com 03/22/2018

Zimbabwe’s 2018 tobacco marketing season opened on Wednesday amid expectations that this year’s crop could be about six percent higher than what went under the hammer in 2017.The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board said about 200 million kilogrammes of the golden leaf is expected to be delivered to the country’s three auction floors, up from 189 million kg last year.

Tobacco has become one of Zimbabwe’s largest foreign currency earners, with the marketing season usually received with excitement from farmers, private sector and the government.

It is usually associated with an improvement in liquidity and booming business for the private sector as farmers spend their money on inputs and other provisions.

The southern African nation is desperately short of dollars due to its struggling economy, although traditionally liquidity improves during the tobacco-selling season as cash is brought into the country.

Officially opening the 2018 marketing season in Harare, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga praised the role being played by the private sector in support of the tobacco industry.

“Government appreciates the coming on board of the tobacco contracting companies where they financed 82 percent of the crop in the 2017/18 agricultural season,” Chiwenga said.

Private companies have over the past few years increasingly financed tobaccofarmers to produce tobacco, helping to boost production.

Zimbabwe exports most of its tobacco to China, South Africa and Belgium.

Official data shows that the country earned more than US$1.2 billion between May 2016 and December 2017, slightly short of the US$1.3 billion it grossed over the same period from gold exports.  Enditem