Zimbabwe is making steady progress toward achieving the goals set out in the government’s Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan (TVCTP), reports The Herald.
Cigarette exports jumped to $47 million in the first half of this year, up 70 percent from the corresponding period in 2022, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats).
The country’s tobacco product export earnings rose 19 percent from $378 million over the period January to June 2022 to $450 million over the same period this year.
The country exports partly or wholly stemmed/stripped or not stemmed/stripped tobacco, tobacco refuse, cigars, cheroots and cigarillos tobacco, cigarettes and manufactured tobacco.
The portion of tobacco product exports accounted for by partly or wholly stemmed/stripped tobacco decreased from 91 percent in 2022 to 88 percent this year.
This was simultaneously accompanied by a three percent increase in the portion of export of cigarettes containing tobacco from seven percent last year to 10 this year.
Tobacco Farmers Union Trust President Victor Mariranyika welcomed the increase in value- added tobacco products export.
“We encourage exporters to increase value addition of our raw tobacco from the low figure of 2 percent until as a country we reach 30 percent,” he was quoted as saying. “Though this increase may not have an immediate impact on the farmer, it is a positive step in the right direction.”
Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association (ZTGA) Chairman George Seremwe said if the country maintains this trajectory, then the benefits will eventually improve farmers’ livelihoods and the economy at large.
The TVCTP aims to achieve a $5 billion tobacco industry by 2025.