More flue-cured tobacco sold on first day

Business Reporter
A TOTAL of 84 542kg of flue-cured tobacco valued at US$216 666 was sold during the first day of the 2011 tobacco marketing season on Wednesday at an average price of US$2,56 per kg.
This compares favourably with 41 759kg that was sold for US$104 315 at an average price of US$2,56 per kg on last season’s opening day.
The top price for the day was US$4,25 per kg while the lowest was US$0,20 per kg, according to figures released by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.
A total of 1 185 bales were laid at the Tobacco Sales Floor of which 1 073 were sold and 112 were rejected.
TSF is expected to continue handling all the auction sales in the short term as the other licensed company, Boka Investments, was still busy with renovations.
There is a lot of optimism that the season would be a much better one for farmers in terms of prices than last year’s.
At total of 21 buying companies, five of them foreign, will jostle to buy over 170 million kg of the golden leaf expected to go under the hammer this season.
Small-scale tobacco farmers account for 82 percent of growers registered for this season.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Dr Joseph Made, said in his opening remarks, the growing participation of small-scale growers was complementing improved yields.
“In 2011, tobacco output is expected to increase to over 170 million kilogrammes on the back of increased plantings, good crop husbandry and good rains,” he said.
“The growth in crop size is being driven by small-scale growers who now make up 82 percent of the total registered growers.”
During the season, close to 79 000 hectares were put under tobacco, up from 65 000 hectares the previous year.
Dr Made said tobacco prices would remain bullish buoyed by increasing global demand driven mostly by China.
China consumed an estimated 40 percent of the total tobacco shipments that Zimbabwe made last year at an average price of US$2,88 per kg.
“The average tobacco prices are expected to remain firm, reflecting global supply and demand conditions,” he said. But he also noted that floods experienced across the globe had negatively affected yields