Maximum prices for contract tobacco reached $2.30 per kg while noncontract leaf fetched $1.20 on the first day of the tobacco selling season in Malawi.
Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation Francis Kasaila on Monday officially opened the 2020 marketing season at Lilongwe Auction Floors with a secret price-bidding exercise.
With the social distancing measures to combat the coronavirus, only about 3,000 tobacco bales will be put up for sale daily. In past years, about 10,000 bales would be put up for sale per day.
In his remarks, minister Kasaila urged the stakeholders to work with farmers to make sure that they produce high-quality leaf.
He expressed his optimism that this year’s marketing season will be good and satisfactory despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The minister further commended the Tobacco Commission, Auction Holding Limited (AHL) and the tobacco-buying companies for taking proactive measures against the virus pandemic as evident in the availability of sanitizing and hand-washing materials at the floors and around the AHL premises.