Through the first 40 days of the 2023 marketing season, Zimbabwe tobacco leaf growers have sold 168 million kg of flue-cured tobacco leaf for $500 million, generating an average leaf price this season is $3 per kilogram, reports The Herald.
At the same corresponding point of the 2023 marketing season, growers had sold 116 million kg of leaf for $348 million, generating an average leaf price of $2.99 per kilogram.
Leaf sales on contract floors this marketing season totaled 153 million kg for $461 million while leaf traded on the auction floors totaled 14 million kg for $39 million.
The highest sales price recorded this season was $6.20 per kilogram while the lowest was $0.10 per kilogram.
This marketing season, leaf growers will retain 85 percent of their earnings in hard currency, up from last season’s mark of 75 percent. The remainder of the earnings will be in local currency pegged at the current interbank exchange rate.
Total tobacco leaf sales for the entire season are expected to reach 230 million kg compared to 212 million kg sold last season.
This season, tobacco growers planted on 112,293 hectares of land, down from 116,454 hectares last season.
The Zimbabwean government aims to create a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025 by boosting leaf production and moving up the value chain.