Boka Floors open tomorrow

following completion of renovations at the complex.
The floors are now being run by Boka Investments and have already started accepting bookings ahead of the opening. Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board chief executive Dr Andrew Matibiri, confirmed that the floors would open this week. He said the board was satisfied, after an inspection of the renovations, that the auctions would run smoothly.
BTF’s spokesperson Ms Rudo Boka said: “We are taking bookings and sales will commence once farmers deliver their crop.”
A BTF official who requested anonymity said they had been allowed to start operating tomorrow.
“The TIMB has allowed us to sell about 2 000 bales of tobacco on Thursday (tomorrow),” the official said.
There has been a flurry of activity at the floors during the past two days as farmers started booking their crop for sale.
By midday on Monday, delivery trucks had already formed a long queue at BTF.
But there was confusion as some farmers had come with the intention of selling their crop immediately.
Many of the farmers had come from the Tobacco Sales Floors which were congested. The farmers said they were yet to be informed of their selling dates and officials had promised to do so soon.
The opening of the floors is expected to bring relief to tobacco growers who had been spending days camped at Tobacco Sales Floors, which has been the sole auction in operation since the season opened on February 18.
This had created pressure on the two auction floors in Harare and farmers have been calling for greater decentralisation of the sector.
Decentralisation of bookings and registration procedures in provinces has not helped much as growers still flock to Harare, many of them without having made prior arrangements.
Meanwhile 17,9 million kg of Virginia tobacco valued at US$54,5 million has gone under the hammer at an average price of US$3,05 per kg.
According to the latest statistics released by the TIMB, out of the 17,9 million kg 7,1 million kg were sold at TSF while the remaining 10,7 million kg were sold under contract.
More than half of the tobacco to be marketed this season is expected to come from communal and A1 farmers who now constitute 82 percent of the total registered tobacco growers.
Zimbabwe enjoys the distinction of being a top flavour tobacco producer alongside other top producers, Brazil and the United States of America. The country expects to sell more than 150 million kg of tobacco this year.