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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE 2018 tobacco selling season is set to begin on March 21 with all the three tobacco auction floors that operated last year having been licenced.
The opening of the crop’s marketing season comes as a relief to the economy amid expectations it will help improve the prevailing liquidity situation. In an interview yesterday, Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) corporate communications manager Mr Isheunesu Moyo said bookings for the tobacco crop starts tomorrow (Wednesday).
“This year’s marketing season begins on March 21 starting with the crop to be delivered under the auction system while contract sales will start the following day (March 22).
“Bookings are starting on the 7th of March after which we will on the 15th of March start receiving the crop,” he said.
“We will have three auction floors which we had last year namely Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Auction Floor and Premier Tobacco Auction Floor.”
Last year, the golden leaf generated over $500 million from 185 million kilogrammes that were delivered to the auction floors. Mr Moyo said TIMB has also registered 27 buyers who will buy this year’s crop.
“I don’t have the statistics off hand as to how many buyers were registered last year but this year we have so far licenced 27 buyers. As we register the buyers, our thrust has been to promote indigenous players,” he said.
The tobacco sector’s contribution to the national economy has been pivotal particularly in generating foreign currency earnings. Last year, Zimbabwe earned $904 million through exporting flue-cured tobacco to over 60 countries among them China, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, India, Germany, Japan, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi and Seychelles. Export earnings are this year expected to reach $1.2 billion. According to a crop assessment survey conducted by TIMB and the Agricultural Technical and Extension Services, the country is expecting an average yield of 2 000kg per hectare from a total hectorage of 104 397 ha planted in the 2017/18 cropping season.
Reaping and curing of the irrigated tobacco crop is now at an advanced stage with more than 80 percent of the crop having been harvesting. Over the past five years, tobacco has been the highest foreign currency earner in Zimbabwe. — @okazunga.
derick.khumalo