Tag: Zimbabwe

  • Zim Tobacco Earnings Surpass Last Year’s

    Zim Tobacco Earnings Surpass Last Year’s

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwean tobacco growers had sold 167 million of tobacco and earned $505 million by the end of June, reports The Herald, citing statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

    By comparison, in the entire 2021 marketing season, farmers pocketed $504 million from the sale of 183 million kg.

    While this year’s volumes are lower than in 2021, the higher quality has been commanding better prices, according to experts.

    The average price for this year is $3.02 per kg while that of last season was $2.76 per kg. The lion’s share of Zimbabwean tobacco is sold under a contract system. Only 5 percent of farmers are sufficiently solvent to borrow from banks or fund their own operations.

    Tobacco is a key crop for Zimbabwe, with exports and supporting activities contributing earnings of more than $1.2 billion annually.

    Eager to capture more value from the golden leaf, the government aims to transform the business into a $5 billion industry by 2025. Its Tobacco Value Chain Transformation plan calls for increasing primary production to 300 million kg by 2025 and localizing financing for smallholder farmers, among other initiatives.

  • Zimbabwe Seeks to Switch to Gas for Curing

    Zimbabwe Seeks to Switch to Gas for Curing

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe wants to replace wood with gas as fuel source for tobacco curing to curb deforestation, reports Xinhua News Agency, citing the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    The TIMB said it is seeking gas technology companies to partner with it in establishing a centralized gas curing facility for tobacco. Such a facility should allow for multiple farmers to cure their tobacco at the same time, the regulator noted.

    According to the TIMB, of the 262,000 hectares lost to deforestation in Zimbabwe every year, 15 to 20 percent of this is attributable to tobacco growing, particularly curing. 

    “This is one of the sustainable curing initiatives which we are considering as a board,” TIMB spokesperson Chelesani Moyo was quoted as saying. “Sustainable tobacco production is the efficient production of quality tobacco, under conditions that limit the negative impact on the environment. This also entails the best agricultural practices that improve the socio-economic conditions of tobacco growers and communities in tobacco-producing areas.” 

    Zimbabwe’s policy of promoting small-scale production has accelerated deforestation as farmers indiscriminately cut down of trees to cure the golden leaf.

    Tobacco is one of Zimbabwe’s major foreign currency earners. 

     Last year, the country sold 186.6 million kg of tobacco leaf valued at $515.9 million, up 16.8 percent in volume and 31 percent in value over sales in 2020. 

  • African Ambition

    African Ambition

    Adam Molai (Photo: Pacific Cigarette Co.)

    The Pacific Cigarette Co. continues to gain momentum.

    By Daisy Jeremani

    The Pacific Cigarette Co. of Zimbabwe has made significant progress toward becoming one of Africa’s No. 2 cigarette makers as it now produces more than 3 billion sticks per year, according to company founder and chairman Adam Molai.

    In a recent interview with Tobacco Reporter, Molai said Pacific was on track to becoming the largest indigenous African cigarette manufacturer by 2020 and the second-largest cigarette manufacturer on the continent, but its growth was disrupted by the Covid-19 outbreak.

    “Significant gains have been made toward this objective, growing from inception to over 3 billion sticks per annum. However, the Covid-19 pandemic merely delayed—it did not destroy or disrupt—our ultimate goal. Our vision for global success through value addition and tobacco beneficiation remains undeterred, and we continue to strive to create value for the African economy and enhance the lives of Africans,” he said.

    Born into an entrepreneurial family, Molai attended some of southern Africa’s most prestigious schools, including Peterhouse Boys, northeast of Harare. He worked at Ernst and Young in Zimbabwe and proceeded to the University of Buckingham in the U.K. where he graduated with a business degree in August 1992. Four years later, he left Lakehead University in Canada with a first-class commerce degree.

    Molai returned home and ran some small businesses, but his biggest break came at 31 years old when he, together with Nick Havercroft, founded Savanna Tobacco, later renamed Pacific Cigarette Co. They launched it in 2002 as a threshing enterprise in Africa’s No. 1 tobacco growing country. This entailed buying tobacco stems from farmers, processing them and exporting them. They did not immediately have the resources to import a cigarette manufacturing plant, but investing in threshing and starting to export were the first serious steps that propelled Pacific to be the brand it is now.

    Molai and Havercroft recognized the opportunity that lay in processing tobacco into cigarettes, and through innovative financing structures to raise foreign currency in a market plagued by foreign currency shortages, they were able to import the required equipment and became the first indigenously owned cigarette maker in Zimbabwe. In addition to the challenge presented by the foreign currency shortage, they also had to overcome the difficulties presented by the then poor relations between Zimbabwe and Germany, which is home to some of the world’s leading tobacco equipment manufacturers. At that time, Europe and the U.S. were sanctioning Harare over the land acquisition program and human rights issues. Despite this, Molai was still able to pay for the company’s first cigarette maker and packer to start producing Pacific Blue cigarettes for export in 2004

    While this represented a big break at a personal level, breaking into a market that had been dominated by established brands for decades presented a considerable challenge, according to Molai. Competitors tried to derail and sabotage the newcomer in a variety of ways, at times using underhanded methods, he says.

    Nonetheless, Molai persisted. “Although it was challenging competing with established global multinationals with infinite resources, we used this as a learning experience,” he said.

    “Our competition provided us with the best education on business. They triggered the tenacity, resilience and boldness which has facilitated our growth and expansion into the region.”

    A few years later, Molai turned the company’s focus to tobacco contract farming. He won government approval to establish contract farming in a country still dominated by auction sales. Critics labeled him an economic saboteur who wanted to use contracting to help white farmers, most of whom just had been evicted from their farms under the land acquisition program, externalize funds. But he was not deterred, having realized that the new, resettled farmers lacked the technical know-how, inputs and financing to seriously grow tobacco.

    After two years of lobbying and hard work, the company was finally licensed to contract but with extremely stringent conditions that gave it no recourse against any defaulting farmers. This first contract scheme was called Zimbabwe Tobacco Growing Co., later rebranded to Northern Tobacco.

    “I believe our foremost contribution to the tobacco industry is not cigarette manufacturing,” says Molai. “The most important contribution we made was fighting for permission to introduce contract farming of tobacco in Zimbabwe.”

    Other companies launched their contract schemes later, and today, more than 100,000 farmers produce some 95 percent of the local crop under contracts.

    Four years ago, Pacific partnered with China Tobacco Shaanxi Industrial Corp. (CTSIC), in an effort to serve the Chinese market. In January 2022, Pacific invested $9.5 million to relaunch two of its brands, Pegasus and Branson, to ensure that they would be able to not only cater to the premium segment but also offer world-class quality cigarettes at an affordable price. The Branson brand family was expanded with Branson flame, toasted and mint varieties while Pegasus now comes in a toasted flavor and a Chinese blend named Hong Ma. 

    Molai recognizes that the Chinese blends are still in their infancy but says the company is working to ensure that it is able to grow that market given that China has the world’s largest population, which is getting increasingly affluent and traveling or settling in other countries.

    “As a disruptor and a trendsetter, Pacific will continue innovating to keep ahead of the competition,” he says. “The relaunch of some of our brands was not only driven by our Chinese partnership but also part of our DNA to ensure we satisfy our customers.”

    Pacific’s deal with CTSIC, he said, was the first of its kind, where Chinese brands got licensed to an African entity. The partnership, which is in line with Zimbabwe’s “Look East” investment policy, remains a key part of the strategy to build Pacific’s market share, considering that China has the world’s highest number of smokers and there are an estimated 10,000 Chinese living in Zimbabwe.

    It takes time to establish and grow a brand, says Molai, so Pacific is working tirelessly to gain the trust and loyalty of consumers.

    “Our aspiration was to get African cigarettes into the Chinese market,” he says. “Africa is the only continent without a quota to supply cigarettes into China, and with Zimbabwe being the largest tobacco player on the continent, it was therefore my responsibility, on behalf of our continent, to make this happen.”

    Pacific is also making inroads into neighboring South Africa, and they recently launched their Acacia brand and intend to continue expanding. As Covid-19 hit in March 2020, Pacific had to innovate and began a campaign centered on its mission that “People are the recipe for maximizing stakeholder value,” so they have been cementing and capitalizing on the relationships that they have on the market to ensure that they get the desired product placement and sales traction.

    Speaking on the prospects for the African economy, Molai said the economy can only grow when businesses identify opportunities for beneficiation and increase their levels of domestic value addition, creating employment and industrializing while enhancing and developing its people. Value addition is especially imperative for Zimbabwe, which exports 98 percent of its tobacco raw and processes just two percent of local production into cigarettes.

    “My personal objective was to democratize the tobacco industry from a highly racialized industry to one whose participation mirrors the continental demographics. This has been largely achieved with indigenous Zimbabweans now major players from growing to cigarette manufacturing.

    “It is our responsibility, and as Pacific, we remain committed to the well-being and long-term sustainability of Zimbabwe’s golden crop by manufacturing and distributing products of international quality,” he said.

    The businessman said his personal ambition has now expanded beyond tobacco and is now also focusing on the industrialization of Africa and beneficiation of other value chains so that the continent becomes an alternative supply chain to the world. Covid-19, he added, has exposed the risk concentration of current supply chains, thus Africa has a phenomenal opportunity to industrialize and create opportunities for it’s very young and unemployed youth.

    In November 2020, his self-titled foundation launched JUA Kickstarter, a $1 million initiative to support startups on the continent. With support from partners, the fund was doubled in January 2021. Announcing the development, Molai recalled the grueling journey he traveled to launch a successful brand and felt the need for him to assist startups.

    “With 65 percent of our population below 35 years of age, this population represents a significant threat or opportunity for our continent,” he told Tobacco Reporter.

  • Zimbabwe: Decline in New Tobacco Growers

    Zimbabwe: Decline in New Tobacco Growers

    Photo: Tobacco Reporter Archive

    The number of new tobacco growers in Zimbabwe for the 2021–2022 season has declined by 50 percent compared to the previous year, according to a report in The Herald.

    According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB), 756 of the new registered farmers are from the communal sector, 244 are A1 farmers, 38 are from the small-scale commercial sector and 56 are from the A2 sector.

    Meanwell Gudu, TIMB chief executive, attributed the decline in new registrations to viability issues. “The decline witnessed in terms of registration of new tobacco growers can be attributed to viability issues. The cost of production is going up and the growing demand of the U.S. dollar component in the operations,” he said. “Even farm laborers now demand payment in foreign currency. So without development funding, it becomes a challenge for new tobacco farmers to register.”

    Meanwhile, average prices for tobacco exports have marginally increased this year.

    “There [are] increased exports, which is a clear reflection of the opening up of the economy post-Covid-19 lockdowns, and there are improvements in logistics,” Gudu said.

    So far, Zimbabwe has exported tobacco worth $307.8 million this season compared to $222.2 million in the same period last year.

  • Great Expectations

    Great Expectations

    Photos: Cavendish Lloyd

    Cavendish Lloyd has started growing low-nicotine flue-cured tobacco in Zimbabwe for shisha.

    By George Gay

    Although it’s unfashionable to say so, I believe there is something most appealing about some aspects of tobacco and the tobacco business, not least because they are naturally part of the Slow Movement. Indeed, they were part of that movement long before it came into existence in the mid-1980s with the realization that there was something to be gained in taking the time to savor certain things—and something being lost in doing things too quickly.

    For instance, though many welcome efficiencies have been introduced to the leaf tobacco business over the years, it always had about it, and still has, a comfortingly unhurried air. I mean, there is, after all, no point in a farmer, at the start of the growing season, standing over her seedlings and shouting, “ready, steady, grow!” And who in their right mind would want to walk quickly through a tobacco warehouse when he could dawdle and savor the aroma?

    Of course, not all aspects of the tobacco business are slow, nor should they be. There is a lot to be said for introducing the sorts of machinery updates and general processing efficiencies and manufacturing efficiencies covered in another story in this issue (see “The Virtuous Loop,” page 36). But, at the same time, there are other aspects of the business that have contraventions of the tenets of the Slow Movement that are to its detriment. I find it sad, for instance, to see smokers racing through their cigarettes as they stand in the cold outside pubs and offices.

    Low-nicotine Virginia flue-cured tobacco has the propensity to absorb the high levels of molasses and flavors that Shisha manufacturers require.

    Unseen Advantage

    Luckily, however, there is a type of smoking that still lends itself to savoring the moment, which comprises mainly the enjoyment of products such as fine cigars, pipes and shisha. Shisha smoking, especially, tends to be part of a relaxed social occasion, and perhaps that is why its appeal is increasing at a time when that of other combustible tobacco products is not.

    And that increase in appeal is occurring, I suspect, without too many shisha smokers realizing there is an unseen advantage in their choice of product, the tobacco component of which could have been grown in a more environmentally friendly way than that of many other tobaccos. Indeed, I, too, didn’t know of this potential environmental advantage until I corresponded recently on the subject of low-nicotine Virginia flue-cured tobacco (LNFCT) with Koen Monkau, the president of Cavendish Lloyd, and Frank Magama, the head of the Plant Breeding Division of the Tobacco Research Board’s (TRB) Kutsaga Research Station in Harare, Zimbabwe.

    Monkau told me his company was experimenting in Zimbabwe with growing LNFCT for use in shisha products, and I assumed the aim of using such tobacco was to try to wean people off smoking as is being attempted in the U.S. in the case of cigarettes. But Monkau explained that, in general, shisha manufacturers required LNFCT (less than 1 percent nicotine) mainly because of its physical characteristics. This style of leaf was pale, white-yellow and very thin, he said, and it had the propensity to absorb the high levels of molasses and flavors that needed to be added to it.

    But this style of leaf also has a number of advantages when it comes to the environment and the cost of producing it, partly because it is closer grown than is standard flue-cured tobacco and partly because of a major reduction in the need for chemical applications. Magama told me it was expected that LNFCT would have lower costs of production with significant savings being made from reductions in the use of fertilizer and the cutting out altogether of systemic and contact suckercide applications. Labor savings would be made because topping would not be required, something that normally involved making several rounds of a crop. And energy and time savings would be made on curing the resultant thinner and smaller leaves.

    At the time of this writing, Cavendish Lloyd was in the process of grading its first trial crop of LNFCT.

    Growing Trials

    Cavendish Lloyd was established in 2011 by Monkau, who has been involved in tobacco for more than 25 years, and his wife, Jiayu Wang, who is vice president of the company. The company’s largest operation in respect of staff numbers is to be found in Zimbabwe, but it operates in the Far East, the Middle East and Europe as well as in other parts of Africa. Overall, it has about 100 employees. It is active throughout the tobacco chain, from the growing of tobacco to the marketing and distribution of cigarettes, though, currently, it does not directly operate any leaf processing or tobacco manufacturing facilities—or, I should point out, offer Cavendish tobacco. It is the exclusive distributor of KT&G products in Zimbabwe.

    Given the company’s close association with Zimbabwe, and the country’s favorable climatic and soil conditions, it is not surprising that this is where Monkau is currently conducting, in conjunction with Magama’s team, LNFCT growing trials and where he intends to expand into larger scale production during the next season, which will run from later this year into next year. And it is not surprising, either, that Magama shares this enthusiasm for Zimbabwe. He told me in an email exchange that he believed there was a combination of factors that made Zimbabwe a suitable country for growing LNFCT, including its resilient grower base, the presence of supportive merchants, a long tradition of growing the crop, and soils that were inherently low in nitrogen, which allowed growers to have good control of plant nutrition when producing LNFCT.

    Asked whether LNFCT varieties were more or less difficult to grow than traditional varieties, Magama said that both required the same attention to detail and good management, though, in the case of LNFCT, some key agronomic practices had to be modified, owing, for example, to the previously mentioned need for less fertilizer and the absence of topping. He added that there was so far no clear evidence about whether it was better to grow LNFCT in the dry lands or as irrigated crops, but he said it was important to note that excessive irrigation or precipitation limited growth and nicotine accumulation through leaching of nitrogen while excessively dry conditions resulted in high nicotine accumulation. Much of the year-to-year variation in nicotine content in a variety was due to differences in rainfall, with everything else being equal.

    At the time of writing, Cavendish Lloyd was in the process of grading its first trial crop of LNFCT, which was grown during the 2021–2022 season by a farmer operating near Marondera, Mashonaland East, and with the help of the Kutsaga team. But it has ambitions to quickly increase its production of LNFCT in Zimbabwe, and it aims, eventually, to become a major player in LNFCT by expanding production into Zambia, Malawi and South Africa.

    Koen Monkau (left) created Cavendish Lloyd in 2011.

    Exponential Growth

    Monkau believes that central and southern Africa can provide significant volumes of LNFCT at competitive prices. And, importantly, having done his research, he believes there is a ready market for such tobaccos. “Within the tobacco market at large, there are some segments that are in decline or stable and other segments that are growing fast,” he told me in an email exchange. “The shisha market is definitely in the last category, with even exponential growth expected in the next few years.”

    Given such opportunities come to fruition, it seems likely that other players will be attracted to growing LNFCT in Zimbabwe, a fact Monkau hinted at when he made the point that establishing an LNFCT production industry in Zimbabwe would be an important step in helping to expand and diversify the country’s tobacco client portfolio.

    Currently, no other companies are growing low-nicotine varieties in Zimbabwe or taking part in production trials. However, it seems that interest is growing. Magama told me the TRB had been involved with low-nicotine trials for the past five years, working with many merchants with different objectives and end-use applications. And the board had been selected, he said, to be part of a three-year global study on low-nicotine tobacco being coordinated by a taskforce of the Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco.

    The plant breeding division of the TRB plays a vital role in low-nicotine trials, conducting research and making available where appropriate the results of that research. The division also makes recommendations when called upon to do so by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) and other stakeholders. Again, such cooperation is vital because the TIMB is responsible for authorizing the growing in Zimbabwe of any tobacco variety, and it is the TRB that carries out value for cultivation and use studies, and, on the basis of those studies, recommends or not the variety in question.

    Furthermore, two other government departments, the Seed Services Institute and the Plant Quarantine Services Institute, are involved in ensuring only suitable varieties are grown by processing seed permits and ensuring all phytosanitary issues from the country of origin are addressed before seed importation is made.

    It might seem from the above that obtaining permission for experimenting with new varieties would be complex, but, for instance, authorization for the seed used for Cavendish Lloyd’s trials was processed for the company by the TRB.

    The seed in question was obtained from a company based in Europe that has long cooperated with Zimbabwe and is a stable source of supply. But, in any case, Magama said that, depending on the results of the trial, it was possible seed could be sourced elsewhere if it were necessary to address limitations the original seed might have. Further, local breeding efforts could be activated should there be a business case for this nascent tobacco type, he added.

    Finally, without wishing to interrupt the Slow Movement that inevitably controls the scheduling of research and trials, I need to point out that Monkau intends to introduce some allegro con brio into his enterprise. “We plan to grow 1 million kg green from season 2022–2023,” he said. “This might seem ambitious, but we have spent a lot of time on research and are confident we can make it.”

    George Gay is Tobacco Reporter’s European editor, but his territory spans the globe. Based in London, George has covered the tobacco industry since 1982, initially for a U.K.-based publication and since 2004 for Tobacco Reporter. George’s understanding of industry issues, combined with his keen sense of observation and dry wit, have earned him a loyal following among Tobacco Reporter’s readers.
  • Mixed Sentiments as Markets Open in Africa

    Mixed Sentiments as Markets Open in Africa

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Farmers earned more than $243,500 from the sale of 94,453 kg of flue-cured tobacco on the first day of Zimbabwe’s 2022 marketing season, reports The Herald. This reflects a 40.54 percent increase over previous year when growers earned $173,256 from 92,106 kg on the first day of sales.

    On the first day of the 2022 marketing season the average price was $2.58 per kg, compared with $1.88 on the first day of 2021, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    TIMB Chief Execute Meanwell Gudu said prices are expected to be firm this year due to reduced volumes.

    “Brazil is likely to be 80 million kg short of their usual production level because of drought. This creates less competition for us. India has fixed its 2021-2022 production of flue-cured Virginia up to 270 million kg, against 236 million kg in the previous year,” he said.

    “Due to anticipated reduced volumes in Zimbabwe this season, there will be more pressure on the demand side to take the crop, which should naturally increase prices upwards. This is likely to be experienced in the medium to filler grades.”

    Farmers in Malawi, meanwhile, were dissapointed with their earnings, with some asking President Lazarus Chakwera to intervene, according to The Nyasa Times.

    On April 1, the highest price offered on the auction floor was $1.75 per kg and the highest offer on the contract market was $2.30.

    Chakwera assured the farmers that the government would intervene. However, he also advised them to grade their tobacco properly to satisfy buyers’ requirement.

    According to the Tobacco Control Commission there were more than 1,000 bales on the Lilongwe Auction Floors on the first day of the 2022 tobacco marketing season.

  • Zimbabwe: Farmers Reject Local Currency

    Zimbabwe: Farmers Reject Local Currency

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe have requested to receive 100 percent of their proceeds in U.S. dollars as opposed to partially in foreign currency and partially in local currency, reports The Independent. The farmers cited input costs rising due to high inflation and exchange rate volatilities.

    The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe said that tobacco farmers would be paid 75 percent of their sales proceeds in foreign currency. The remaining 25 percent would be paid in the local currency, converted at the prevailing auction exchange rate on the day of sale.

    “Expectations are that we retain 100 percent United States dollars (USD). Input costs were very high. Everything was paid in USD, including labor,” Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe President Shadreck Makombe said.

    “Contractors need to improve funding per hectare. The dry spell has affected most late crops, and most farmers will have challenges in repaying loans.”

    The Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) said in its latest newsletter that the forex retention level of 75 percent “will sadly negate all the anticipated positives for the season, hence diversification and identification of alternate crops to tobacco remains key for all growers.”

    “Demand for Zimbabwe’s flavor tobacco remains very high. However, it is poor, inconsistent monetary policies that are hurting the local industry and impeding its growth,” the ZTA said.

    “We have had a situation last year where contractors failed to pay farmers,” said George Seremwe, president of the ZTA. “To date, some of the farmers have not been paid. We do not expect that situation to happen. We don’t expect the same contractors to be buying tobacco this season until they fulfill last year’s obligations.”

    “We expect the grading and pricing system to be uniform. We cannot have one contractor paying one grade higher than the other. We want that to be addressed as well.”

    The marketing season officially begins on March 30.

  • Zimbabwe: Contractors Succumb to Competition

    Zimbabwe: Contractors Succumb to Competition

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Nine Zimbabwean tobacco contractors have collapsed in the past year due to cutthroat competition, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).

    “There is a lot of competition in the contracting space in terms of pricing,” TIMB CEO Meanwell Gudu told The Zimbabwe Independent. “If a contractor does not pay the correct price, that contractor will not get tobacco. Last year, we had 42 companies, and now, we have 33. Some of them have fallen by the wayside because they could not compete.”

    Once characterized by auction sales, Zimbabwe’s tobacco trade is now dominated by contract growing, with up to 96 percent of leaf tobacco being produced under agreements between buyers and farmers.

    More than half of the $748 million earned by Zimbabwe’s golden leaf farmers in 2020 was pocketed by contractors, mainly big foreign corporations that repatriate the hard currency back to their countries, according to critics.

    Last week, Gudu also said the TIMB was set to crack the whip on tobacco “side marketers”—buyers who illegally purchase leaf from farmers contracted with other organizations—with stiff penalties that will see offenders serving up to six month jail terms.

  • Zimbabwe Trade Gears up for Selling Season

    Zimbabwe Trade Gears up for Selling Season

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco auctions are set to open on March 30, with all three auction floors prepared to follow Covid-19 protocols, reports All Africa.

    Majority of sales will take place through contract floors while auction floors will cover 5 percent of sales.

    Prices are expected to be firm. Due to the rainfall, output of the crop is expected to be down 15 percent, according to New Zimbabwe.

    Tobacco leaf has a capacity of earning $15 billion per year for Zimbabwe, according to Bulawayo 24 News, but the country is currently only bringing in $900 million.

    Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board CEO Meanwell Gudu stated that there’s a need to invest in value addition for the industry and country to fully benefit from the crop and that sustainability issues could affect the markets if not adhered to.

  • Zimbabwe to Crack Down on Side Marketing

    Zimbabwe to Crack Down on Side Marketing

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) is cracking down on the side marketing of tobacco leaf during the 2022 selling season, according to The Sunday Mail.

    “We have engaged relevant authorities to come up with a Statutory Instrument (SI) on side marketing,” said Saviour Muvirimi, TIMB head of inspectorate. “We also recruited informers in all farming areas in order to receive information on the presence of illegal buyers in communities.”

    Police would be brought in to arrest those caught side marketing, according to Muvirimi. “TIMB will be making constant radar sweeps on frequency of sales on grower numbers with the view to identify grower numbers perpetuating side marketing. Respective individuals will be called to explain these sales, and if we are not convinced, we will block and suspend the grower numbers and refer such criminal elements to the Zimbabwe Republic Police for arrest.”

    “Farmers who side market tobacco actually play around statistics by adjusting estimates,” he said, adding that the police department would be strict on addressing adjustment of estimates by farmers.

    “TIMB will not hesitate to suspend sales and revoke licenses from contractors involved in side marketing. (We will) increase our surveillance patrols in farming communities in order to identify makorokoza’s (dealers) and errant licensed contractors engaging themselves in side marketing,” Muvirimi said.