Shortened flue-cured auction season drawing to a close in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s 2013 flue-cured tobacco auction marketing season will close on July 5, according to a story in the Zimbabwe Herald quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

Final deliveries will be accepted on July 4.

By the time it closes, the auction season will have run for 99 days, down from 145 days in 2012.

Shortening the auction season in this way is seen as a positive development, though, at the beginning of the auctions, the TIMB’s chief executive, Dr. Andrew Matibiri, indicated that, with Boka Tobacco Floors, Premier Tobacco Floors and Tobacco Sales Floor all operating, the season might have been reduced to 75 days.

Meanwhile, the flue-cured clean-up auction is due to be held on Aug. 6 and might be extended, depending on the volume of deliveries.