Call for auction sales as demand for Zambia’s tobacco drops by a third

Tobacco sales in Zambia during the first 64 days of this year’s marketing season were down by 30 per cent on those of the same period of last year, according to a Zambia Daily News story quoting Tobacco Association of Zambia (TAZ) figures.

Tobacco sales during April to July amounted to 8.7 million kg, down from 12.4 million kg.

TAZ finance and administration manager Owen Simukoko attributed the decline in sales in part to delays in the start of the marketing season.

He said also that the global demand for tobacco had been reduced because of over-production in some countries.

Simukoko was quoted as saying too that TAZ agreed with the Tobacco Board of Zambia and buyers that the commodity should be ‘sold through an auction system to deal with [the] issue of the crop being in the hands of independent traders’.