Tobacco selling at Malawi’s auction floors restarted on Monday on ‘a good note’, according to a StarAfrica.com story quoting the Tobacco Control Commission (TCC).
The floors had been closed for a week following ‘disagreements’ between farmers and buyers over prices.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Tuesday, the TCC’s CEO, Albert Changaya, said that farmers were now happy because the buyers had started offering fair prices of at least US$1.40 per kg.
“This is encouraging and much better than what was put on the table last week,” he said. “We hope this trend will continue where we will have good prices for the leaf.”
Previously, buyers were offering prices as low as US$0.80 per kg, which prompted farmers to chase buyers away from the market.