Malawi sales opening announced

Malawi’s tobacco marketing season will be officially opened on April 11 at the Lilongwe Auction Floors, according to a story by StarAfrica.com citing the Tobacco Control Commission (TCC), the country’s tobacco regulator.

The TCC CEO, Albert Changaya, was quoted as saying that all was set for tobacco farmers to sell their leaf to international buyers over the country’s auction floors.

“Preparations are at an advanced stage in all three major markets of the country,” he said. “Bales of tobacco leaf have started arriving from different parts of the country waiting to be auctioned in these markets,” he said.

The opening of Lilongwe floors will be followed by the opening on April 13 of the Limbe Auction Floors in Blantyre and the opening on April 18 of the Mzuzu Auction Floors.

Meanwhile, initial estimates had it that the country had produced 211 million kg of leaf against a buyers’ requirement of 151 million kg.