Malawi Earnings Up

Malawi has earned $295.31 million from tobacco sales to date, 40 percent more than it collected during the 2023 selling season, reports The Nyasa Times. The country sold $132.8 million kg of tobacco at an average price of $2.95.

Despite the improved earnings, the income is enough to keep the southern African nation’s economy running for just over 1.5 months, according to analysts. Malawi has long struggled with a balance-of-payment crisis.

TAMA Farmers Trust President Abiel Kalima Banda described this year’s tobacco selling season as successful, noting that auction prices had increased for the first time in up to six years. The extra income, he suggested, would motivate farmers to stick with the crop.

The Tobacco Commission has licensed 60.2 million kg of leaf for the next growing season, almost triple the volumes licensed at the same time last year.

The regulator aims to increase annual tobacco production to 200 million kg by 2028, noting that demand for Malawi’s burley tobacco has in recent years outstripped supply.

Not all stakeholders are keen for Malawi to increase tobacco production, however. In late 2023, the nation ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which among other things encourages signatories to replace tobacco with alternative crops.

Malawi’s economy relies heavily on tobacco exports. Various initiatives are underway to diversify the nation’s economy, including projects sponsored by tobacco companies trying to develop supplemental income streams as global demand for cigarettes stagnates.