Zim growers expect better prices

Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers are expecting that leaf prices during the 2016 selling season will be better than they were last season, according to a story in The Herald.

Production is thought to be down because of lower plantings and a drought, while the quality of the tobacco that has been grown is said to be high.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president, Wonder Chabikwa, said growers were expecting firmer prices this season based on the economics of supply and demand.

“We are expecting a reduced tobacco crop this season due to poor rains and low prices offered at auction floors last year,” he was quoted as saying. Drought has contributed to the reduction of the crop.

“We also hope the use of the e-auction system will bring in order, which may weed out class B buyers who contributed to poor auction prices,” he said.

But Tobacco Industry Development Support Institute executive director, Jeffrey Takawira, said that while there was a high likelihood that this year’s tobacco volumes would be less than those of last season, it did not necessarily follow that there would be an increase in the price of tobacco at the auction floors.