Auctions licensed
Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has licensed three auction floors and 19 contract buyers for the 2017 marketing season.
The licensed auctions are Boka Tobacco Floors, Premier Tobacco Floors and Tobacco Sales Floors.
Meanwhile, authorities have been finalizing plans for e-auctions to ensure more transparency.
TIMB communications manager Isheunesu Moyo noted that consultants are working on the e-auctions project and doing the final installations and training relevant personnel before the commissioning of the eauction platform.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe urged tobacco industry stakeholders to consider opening auction floors early to ease cash shortages.
TIMB said farmers planted 32,208 hectares of tobacco during the 2016-2017 season, up from 28,865 hectares during the previous season.
The number of registered growers also increased to 73,492 this year from 69,518 last year.
