Story by Owen Mandovha
The 2024 tobacco marketing season which comes to an end next week has lived up to expectations despite the negative impact of the El Nino-induced drought with over 235 million kilogrammes of tobacco having been delivered.
Average tobacco prices were firmer by more than 20 percent due to growing demand of Zimbabwe’s golden leaf globally.
Board chairperson of TIMB, Mr Patrick Devenish said, ‘‘The season was excellent in relation to what we set as industry, so far we have about 235 million of tobacco delivered against last year 296 million mainly due to drought but the silver lining is the fact that we earned more due to firm prices despite our low quality because there was firm demand around the globe.’’
Industry stakeholders including auction floors thanked the TIMB for a longer marketing period unlike in the past, but called for more tightening of the compliance framework to plug side marketing.
‘‘In previous seasons the marketing season was very short but we are happy that we have been allowed to run down the season so far and all tobacco has seen mopped up,’’ said Mr Sam Garabga from the Premier Tobacco Auction Floors.
Last year, the country earned close to one billion United States dollars following a record 296 million kilogrammes of deliveries.
