Tobacco season delayed

Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) says that the opening of the 2018 flue-cured tobacco selling season is likely to be delayed because of the late onset of rains, according to a story in The Chronicle.
Most of the crop is still in the fields whereas, usually at this time of the year, most growers would be harvesting and curing their crop ahead of the start of the selling season in mid-February or early March.
Last year, the marketing season opened on March 15.
No date has been set for this year’s opening of sales, some of which could be held outside Harare – in Rusape, Mvurwi and Karoi.
Tobacco is one of Zimbabwe’s major foreign currency earners that last year generated $904 million in exports, down from $933 million in 2016.
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has recognized the tobacco selling season as a period when the country’s liquidity situation improves, allowing manufacturers to access foreign currency with which to import critical raw materials.