Zimbabwe Tobacco Export Earnings Jump

Zimbabwe’s tobacco export earnings increased by a whopping 138 percent year-on-year to reach $436 million leaf in the first quarter of 2024, reports The Herald, as cigarette manufacturers were urged to explore high-paying markets.

Traditionally a leading exporter of leaf tobacco, the country aims to extract more revenue from the business by moving to higher value products, such as cigarettes. In 2021, the government adopted the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, which seeks to build a $5 billion industry by 2025.

Statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board reveal that cigarettes were the most lucrative export product, attracting prices of up to $7.44 per kilogram. Partly or wholly stemmed/stripped tobacco took second places, with earnings of $7.39 per kilogram, and smoking tobacco was third, earning $6.45 per kilogram.

Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association chairman George Seremwe attributed the gains to hard work by farmers and other stakeholders along with the favorable weather in the 2022–2023 growing season, which resulted in good-quality leaf.

He encouraged cigarette manufacturers to continue targeting markets that guarantee high prices for their products.