Tobacco auction floor sales gross $711m
Business Reporter
Tobacco sales at the auction floors have grossed $711 million after the end of the 2018 marketing season and indications are that the figure might increase on the back of the ongoing contract sales.
Auction floors closed on July 27 after the selling season started in March. According to ZBCtv, the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) said the just ended 2018 marketing season has seen a total of 243 million kilogrammes of the commodity being sold compared to 187,9 million kg last year.
Auction sales for this year are pegged at $711 million compared to $560 million achieved in 2017.
TIMB spokesperson Mr Isheunesu Moyo was quoted as saying contract sales were still in progress so there were still hopes that the total sales might reach $800 million.
“The sales are still ongoing. However, with auctions having been closed we are still anticipating a slight increase in terms of the entire sales for the commodity,” he said.
Tobacco is one of Zimbabwe’s strategic foreign currency earners with expectations that the commodity would continue to play a critical role in easing foreign exchange constraints affecting productive sectors of the economy.
The 2018 selling season reached 237,1kg three weeks ago.
With an estimated 350 million smokers, China spends around $200 million annually on Zimbabwean tobacco, regarded among the best in the world.
Other top buyers of flue-cured tobacco from Zimbabwe are South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Belgium, among others.
Last year, tobacco exports topped $904 million, which was a decrease from the $933 million recorded during the previous season.
Last year, the tobacco sector accounted for 25 percent of the country’s total exports, which stood at $3,8 billion.
Since the land reform programme Government embarked on in 2000, the number of tobacco growers has been on an upward trajectory with over 145 000 farmers having registered to grow the crop in the 2018/19 season compared to 98 795 during the same period last year.