Tag: mozambique

  • Mozambique Leaf Production Plunges

    Mozambique Leaf Production Plunges

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    The value of Mozambique’s tobacco production dropped 71.7 percent to MZN200 million ($3.13 million) year-on-year in the first six months of 2024, according to the Club of Mozambique. The organization did not provide a reason for the decline.

    The revenues amounted to 2.7 percent of the target set for the whole year and 1 percent of Mozambique’s industrial output from January to June.

    The government expects growers to cultivate 129,321 hectares and 81,223 tons of tobacco this year.

    According to a 2023 World Health Organization report, Mozambique had the eighth largest tobacco-growing area in the world and the third largest tobacco-growing area in Africa, after Zimbabwe and Malawi.

    Brazil, with a cultivation area of 357,230 hectares, and Mozambique are the only Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries nations mentioned in the WHO report.

  • Tobacco Production Rising in Mozambique

    Tobacco Production Rising in Mozambique

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Mozambique produced MZN4.48 million ($70,132) worth of tobacco in 2023, up 23 percent from the previous year, reports The Macao News, citing the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

    The value increased despite a drop in volume, which was down 15 percent in the 2022–2023 growing season. Mozambique is the eighth-largest tobacco-growing area globally and the third largest in Africa, with 76,850 hectares dedicated to tobacco, following Zimbabwe (112,700 ha) and Malawi (100,982 ha).

    According to the World Health Organization, Africa saw an increase of 35.7 percent in tobacco leaf production and an increase of 19.8 percent in area under tobacco cultivation from 2005 to 2020, when both were trending down globally.

  • Mozambique Leaf Exports Down

    Mozambique Leaf Exports Down

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Mozambique exported tobacco worth $49.4 million in the first nine months of 2023, a quarter less than in the previous year, reports Club Mozambique, citing central bank figures.

    According to the Bank of Mozambique, tobacco exports in the first three quarters of 2022 amounted to $66.4 million.

    Mozambique has the world’s eighth largest tobacco growing area, according to the World Health Organization. With tobacco cultivated over 91,469 hectares, Mozambique is third largest grower in the African region after Zimbabwe (112,770 hectares) and Malawi (100,962).

    Brazil, by comparison, cultivates, 357,230 hectares.

  • MLT Cuts Production in Mozambique

    MLT Cuts Production in Mozambique

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Mozambique Leaf Tobacco (MLT) plans to reduce production in Niassa during the upcoming growing season due to difficulties of selling leaf during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports Club of Mozambique.

    Claudio Ferreira, MLT manager for the Niassa and Zambezia provinces, told Noticias that some countries that are potential markets for Mozambican tobacco have reduced their imports significantly to protect the health of their citizens during the pandemic. Health experts believe the inherent risks of smoking are exacerbated by Covid-19.

    “The World Health Organization has also been advising smokers to abandon tobacco, and these appeals are being listened to”, said Ferreira.

    Ferreira said MLT will work with 36,500 smallholder growers this season, about 4,000 less than in the 2019-2020 year. The area under tobacco cultivation will shrink, he added, but did not say by how much.

    Niassa Governor Judite Massenguele said the provincial agricultural directorate has already begun to persuade tobacco farmers to switch to crops such as cotton, soya and sesame.

    The Niassa government is also eager to set up a tobacco processing plant in the province, believing that this will create jobs. But so far, no private sector partner seems interested in such a plant.

    MLT, a subsidiary of Universal Corp., operates a tobacco processing plant in Tete Province.

  • PMI providing relief

    PMI providing relief

    Philip Morris International said today that it will provide the Swiss Red Cross with $400,000 to support the relief efforts in Mozambique following Cyclone Idai.

    ‘In the aftermath of one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa, and the Southern Hemisphere as whole, two million people have been left affected, and thousands are in immediate need of emergency shelter, food, water, and medical assistance,’ PMI said in a note posted on its website.

    ‘Beyond this, the funds will also support people’s livelihoods in the months ahead, as needs will increase for those who have lost their crops and property.’

    “We are deeply saddened by the impact of Cyclone Idai,” said Nicolas Denis, vice president leaf at PMI. “The devastation is massive, and the local communities are going through a very difficult time. Our thoughts are with everyone affected. We are working with the Swiss Red Cross to contribute to the relief efforts and support the country as it rebuilds.”

    PMI said that it did not have any operations in Mozambique, but that it sourced a significant amount of tobacco from the country.

    ‘Tobacco is an important crop there, representing a significant contribution to the economy,’ it said. ‘According to our farm monitoring data, the livelihoods of some 600,000 people—farmers, their families and tobacco workers—are dependent directly on tobacco.’

  • Savanna to set up factory in Mozambique

    Savanna Tobacco of Zimbabwe plans to set up a factory in Mozambique, reports Newsday. According to Chairman Adam Molai, the company will invest at least $2 million in equipment and marketing.

    “We have been exporting a lot of finished cigarettes into Mozambique,” said Molai. “We are seeing opportunities to pack our cigarettes in that market.” Savanna exports 85 percent of its products.

    Molai expected that by year’s end company volumes would be up 40 percent compared with 2013. He said the company has the capacity of producing 4.5 billion sticks of cigarettes, but currently it was utilizing 72 percent of that capacity.

    The chairman said the company had increased the value it got from products by 10 times since it began operations in 2002.