Tobacco sales soar
http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk
Zimbabwe has recorded its best tobacco sales figures since the accelerated
land reform programme began a decade ago.
03.08.1201:15pm
by The Zimbabwean Harare
New figures from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board show Zimbabwe sold
140.8 million kilograms of tobacco at an average price of $3.67, resulting
in sales totalling $517m.
The figure is well above last year’s total of $349m, and average price per
kilo of $2.71. Three more tobacco auction floors have also opened over the
last year, bringing the total to four floors.
Zimbabwe, once the world’s biggest tobacco exporter with 30% of global
exports, saw sales fall from a peak of 236 million kilos in 2000 to a low of
55.6 million kilos in 2006 as the economic effects of farm disruptions took
hold.
The disruptions were part of President Mugabe’s “fast-track” land reform
program, during which white owned commercial farms were seized, ostensibly
for distribution to blacks, but which caused world-record hyper inflation as
the economy collapsed.
The inflation made it impossible for farmers to purchase inputs such as
fertilizer and seeds, and tobacco production went into freefall.
The introduction of the US dollar as official currency following 2008
elections stabilized the economy and tobacco production has been rising
since 2009, although mining is now the country’s principal foreign currency
earner.