Tobacco deliveries hit 270 m kg, break targets again

Tobacco deliveries have again surpassed the revised target after hitting 270 million kg on Tuesday, statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board show.

The TIMB, which monitors the activities in the tobacco sector, lifted the production target from the initial 230 million to 270 million kg as some tobacco still trickle in.

This year’s tobacco production would be the highest ever the country has produced.

On day 69 of the marketing season, about 270,1 million kg of tobacco, or 52,8 percent ahead of last year, worth US$816 million had been sold.

The crop which was sold through contract flows was 250 million kg and 19 million went through auction floors.

Average prices were slightly down 0,53 percent up to US$3,02 per kg from US$3,04.

A number of factors have been attributed to the increase in output including a surge in global demand for local tobacco, favourable weather that was characterised by both dry and wet spells, better agronomy, and improved participation by the smallholder farmers who produced the crop using their own resources.

“It has been a very good season for the country and I think this will be sustained,” TIMB chairman Patrick Devenish told Business Weekly in a recent interview.

“Because of the contract scheme, the agronomy support continues growing and this had a very positive impact on the yields and the quality as well,” Devenish added.

At its peak, the country produced 253 million kg. Under the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation strategy, the country seeks to increase tobacco output to 300 million kg by 2025, enhance value addition and beneficiation to around 30 percent through the production of cigarettes and grow the industry to US$5 billion by 2025.

Exports reached about US$407 million during the first four-month of 2023, according to the latest statistics from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). Last year, tobacco exports were US$968 million up from US$575 million during the prior year.-ebusinessweekly