Tag: Zimbabwe

  • Zimbabwe Tobacco Season Opens

    Zimbabwe Tobacco Season Opens

    Image: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s auction floors opened today, with high expectations for better prices this season compared to last year, according to The Herald. Deliveries of the contract crop start tomorrow.

    Tobacco growers in the country faced poor rains this season, but those with a good crop expect better prices due to demand. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) stated that Zimbabwe exported 233,896,182 kg valued at $1.22 billion as of Dec. 15, 2023. The average price for shipments was $5.23 per kilogram.

    The auction floors only sell about 5 percent of the crop but are considered the major price setter compared to the contract floors.

    Farmers will receive 75 percent of their earnings in foreign currency with the remaining 25 percent in local currency.

    Only two auction floors have been licensed this year by the TIMB to buy leaf, the Tobacco Sales Floor and Premier Tobacco Auction Floors (PTAF).

    “We have finished all preparations,” Owen Murumbi, PTAF chairman, said yesterday. “The banks are now lined up, EcoCash and Mukuru are all there to bring more convenience to the farmers.

    “We have started receiving bales. We should surpass last year’s figures although the volumes are low. We don’t expect them to go down. Farmers need to come, and we are offering excellent services. We are starting with Mukuru and EcoCash on day one. This should improve payment systems for farmers.

    “Tobacco sales floors should implement strict age verification processes to ensure that only adults can access the premises. All selling points shall ensure there are no children under 18 in and around selling premises, tobacco processing factories and any other tobacco storage and handling facilities.

    “Sales floors should prominently display awareness campaigns that highlight the issue of child labor in tobacco production, posters and educational materials that provide information about the harmful and unethical practices associated with child labor.”

    The TIMB has created a transporter compliance framework that will work toward developing a system that monitors movement of tobacco from the primary source to the market. The framework is expected to minimize losses, enhance farmer viability and improve livelihoods and aims to curb side marketing, tobacco bale theft, bale swapping and forgery on stop order launching.

    “We appeal to the authorities to ensure that tobacco sold at the auction floors get similar prices with the one which is sold at the contract floors,” said Barbra Marava of Banket. “Farmers incur similar costs, and there is no reason to offer them different prices like before.”

  • Zimbabwe Crop Down 10 Percent

    Zimbabwe Crop Down 10 Percent

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    An El Nino-induced drought has slashed volumes but raised farmers’ hopes for strong pricing.

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco volume is likely to be at least 10 percent below last year’s record 296 million kg due to drought, reports Reuters.

    The growing season was impacted by El Nino, a natural climate phenomenon in which the surface waters of the central and eastern Pacific Ocean become unusually warm, causing changes in global weather patterns.

    At 113,000 hectares, the tobacco growing area this season was 3 percent smaller than that of last year. Yields per hectare were down, as well.

    Following an ambitious land reform in the 2000s, Zimbabwean tobacco production is dominated by smallholder farmers who lack irrigation systems.

    Zimbabwe’s two licensed Harare auction floors, which handle approximately 5 percent of the country’s tobacco crop, are scheduled to open tomorrow. Deliveries for the far-larger contract sales will commence on Friday.

    Contract tobacco sales will be conducted not only in Harare, but also at approved decentralized selling centers in the countryside. These were set up during Covid-19 to minimize travel but proved so successful that they were maintained after the pandemic receded.

  • TIMB Licenses 32 Contractors

    TIMB Licenses 32 Contractors

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has licensed 32 contractors to buy leaf this season, reports The Herald.

    The country’s tobacco auctions will open March 13, with the contract floors starting operations a day later.

    To date, the regulator has licensed only two auction floors—the Tobacco Sales Floors and Premier Tobacco Auction Floor.

    Contract sales will be conducted in Harare and at decentralized selling centers in Karoi, Mvurwi, Bindura, Marondera and Rusape.

    TIMB Head of Operations Blessing Dhokotera reiterated that tobacco farmers would retain 75 percent of their proceeds in U.S. dollars and the remainder in local currency.  

    He also highlighted measures against child labor, side marketing and the spread of infectious diseases such as Covid-19 and cholera.

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco production has suffered from drought this years, with officials predicting a harvest of 265 million kg this year, compared with 294 million kg in 2023, according to News Day.

    The droughts are attributed to the El Nino climate phenomenon which involves a periodic warming of ocean temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean, near the equator, and can have significant impacts on weather patterns worldwide.

  • Zimbabwean Growers Urged to Grade Properly

    Zimbabwean Growers Urged to Grade Properly

    Image: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwean tobacco growers’ representatives are urging their constituents to grade their leaf carefully to boost earnings during the selling season, reports The Herald.

    Key factors to consider during grading are plant position, color, quality, length and style, according to Zimbabwe’s tobacco research board, Kutsaga.

    “Prices in the tobacco market are determined during the opening day of the auction floors and depend on the grades of the crop,” said Victor Mariranyika, president of the Tobacco Farmers’ Union Trust. “The grading process starts even before the crop is planted, with factors such as land selection, preparation, fumigation, fertilization, seedling selection, topping and suckering, reaping, curing and storage all influencing the outcome.”

    While the tobacco plants are growing, the emerging leaves are categorized as prime, second and third, producing different colors during curing. Buyers pay more for certain colors and sizes.

    “The current practice of using color as the primary matrix for selling tobacco has proven to be unprofitable for farmers. The prices tend to be lower than the production costs, indicating the need for a different approach,” said Mariranyika.

    Tobacco Farmer Talk (TFT) WhatsApp group administrator Phineas Mukomberenwa announced an upcoming Kutsaga tour that will allow farmers to tour tobacco curing facilities and see grading, baling, tobacco presentation and the fundamentals of tobacco classification.

    “By integrating grading and classification in the tour, TFT aims to equip growers who are still harvesting and struggling with curing with the knowledge while also assisting those ready for the market. The objective is to ensure that tobacco is graded accurately and presented in a manner that secures the best possible prices at the tobacco auction floors,” said Mukomberenwa.

  • Zimbabwean Shisha Production Set to Triple

    Zimbabwean Shisha Production Set to Triple

    Photo: Cavendish Lloyd

    Zimbabwe is poised to produce more than 800 million kg of shisha tobacco this season, reports The Herald, citing statistics from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

    According to the regulator, tobacco growers have planted 407 hectares of the crop this year, marking a 270 percent increase over last year’s hectarage.

    Cavendish Lloyd, the only registered shisha tobacco contractor in Zimbabwe, expects better quality and yields this year as growers had gained experience and put into practice last year’s recommendations from buyers.

    A company representative said he anticipated yields of between 2,000 kg and 2,300 kg per hectare.

    Derived from imported seed varieties, the shisha flue-cured tobacco requires different agronomic practices than Zimbabwe’s traditional flue-cured crop.

    The shisha tobacco is characterized by low nicotine levels (below 1 percent) and high sugar levels (above 25 percent). To achieve the lower nicotine levels, farmers grow 3,000 plants per hectare—double the number that is typical for Zimbabwe’s traditional flue-cured crop. The density ensures the plant competes more fiercely for nutrients, which in turn reduces nicotine levels.

    In its inaugural year of commercial production (2023), shisha tobacco farmers earned an average of $3.15 per kilogram.

    Tobacco Reporter profiled Cavendish Lloyd’s Zimbabwean shisha operations in its May 2022 print edition (see “Great Expectations”).

  • Zimbabwe Prepares for Marketing Season

    Zimbabwe Prepares for Marketing Season

    Image: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers are preparing for the 2024 marketing season, set to begin in March, reports Xinhua News.

    Farmers remain hopeful for a successful season despite unfavorable weather patterns that affected some crops—late onset of rains and severe hailstorms in some areas.

    This year’s projection is 250 million kg of tobacco due to the dry spell compared to last year’s record high of 296 million kg, according to Chelesani Tsarwe, public affairs officer of the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB). By 2025, the government aims to increase production to 300 million kg per year.

    Tobacco auction floors will open March 13, according to the TIMB. Contract floors will open March 14. 

    Favorable pricing will be crucial for farmers to cover costs, especially for small-scale farmers, who make up over 80 percent of the country’s tobacco farmers, according to George Seremwe, president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association.

    Tobacco is a major foreign currency earner in the country.

    “We think it will be very important for the government and the stakeholders to work on value addition, that is, value addition locally; with that, probably, we hope that the profits will also be shared among farmers,” said Seremwe.

  • Zimbabwe Markets to Open March 13

    Zimbabwe Markets to Open March 13

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe’s tobacco auctions will open March 13, 2024, reports The Herald, citing a Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) announcement. Contract floors will open one day later,

    Last year, the tobacco marketing season started on March 8 for auction floors and March 9 for the contract buyers.

    TIMB statistics show that farmers had planted 113,101 hectares under the crop by Feb. 2, a 4 percent decline from last year’s 117,645 ha.

    Meanwhile, some farmers welcomed the announcement of the dates, saying that would help improve liquidity in the market.

     Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA) chief executive officer, Rodney Ambrose said he expects the market to be significantly firmer than previous seasons to counter the high production costs. Zimbabwe’s tobacco growing season has been impacted by alternating wet and dry conditions, which has contributed to an increase in pests and diseases. Given that other leaf origins, such as Brazil, have also struggled with extreme weather conditions this year, Ambrose expects leaf prices to be high.

    The ZTA has asked the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to increase the share of earnings that growers are allowed to retain in U.S. dollars from the current 75 percent.

     The government standardized all export retentions to 75 percent with the balance of 25 percent liquidated at the ruling interbank rate. Last year, farmers retained 85 percent of their earnings in foreign currency, with the 15 percent balance liquidated into local currency.

  • Zimbabwe Farmers Demand Premiums

    Zimbabwe Farmers Demand Premiums

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Following a 30 percent increase in tobacco export earnings to $1.3 billion in 2023, Zimbabwean tobacco farmers are pushing for increased premiums, according to The Herald.

    In 2023, Zimbabwe exported tobacco products worth $1.3 billion, up from $998.1 million in 2022, according to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStats). In volume, the increase was 20 percent for the same period.

    “The huge gap between what ends in the farmer’s pocket and what exporters take home is a big anomaly that needs to be addressed,” said George Seremwe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Growers Association (ZTGA). “Participation of farmers in the value addition chain needs to be enhanced by making sure they take ownership of the crop all the way to the market.”

    Seremwe stated that there should be a premium price paid back to farmers after the value addition process as happened in the past. He also argued for a model that rewards farmers in terms of export earnings.

    “We used to have export retention schemes from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. This needs to be revived so that the farmer gets more value from the crop,” the ZTGA chair said.

    “The grower is the weakest link in this matrix and needs protection from (the) government,” said Zimbabwe Progressive Tobacco Farmers Association (ZPTFA) president Mutasa Mutandwa.

    “The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board needs to thoroughly monitor contractors as per the compliance administration framework in order to find out what inputs have been given to farmers versus the crop they are buying,” said Mutandwa.

    “Our crop is fetching high prices on the international market, as it is used as a blender, but the farmer is not benefiting. There is need for massive investment in tobacco processing plants to increase exports of high-priced manufactured products,” explained the ZPTFA president.

    The Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan aims to increase value addition from 2 percent to 30 percent by 2025 to reach a $5 billion tobacco industry.

    “The price at the floors can only be enhanced by improving the quality of the leaf as buyers prefer clean and clear styles,” said Shadreck Makombe, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union. “There is need to have more investment in processing to enhance value addition.”

  • Diversification in Africa: FCTC No Help

    Diversification in Africa: FCTC No Help

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    While participants in the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) are keen for tobacco growers to abandon the golden leaf, farmers around the world say they receive little support in switching to alternative livelihoods.

    Interviewed by the International Tobacco Growers’ Association, Ryan Swales, president of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA), said he has not witnessed any attempts from the global health body to assist with diversification.

    “I do not see any help from the WHO FCTC helping the diversification of tobacco farmers in Zimbabwe,” he was quoted as saying. “We are on our own, and a big proportion of large-scale growers have diversified on their own, with no help from anyone else, be it the tobacco companies or the WHO FCTC. If you ask many growers if they know who the WHO FCTC are, you will be met with a blank stare!”

    This sentiment was echoed by ZTA CEO Rodney Ambrose, who noted that for Zimbabwe’s tens of thousands of small-scale farmers, there simply are no viable diversification options. “Our ministry engaged in a study on behalf of WHO FCTC some years back, which clearly concluded that there are no economically viable crops other than tobacco for our small-scale farmers. Tobacco is their livelihood.

    “However, we are always willing to further explore diversification options that the WHO FCTC may propose.”

    In Malawi, tobacco growers have received support from the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World as the country seeks to broaden its economic base.

  • Zimbabwe Exports Up

    Zimbabwe Exports Up

    Photo: Taco Tuinstra

    Zimbabwe earned nearly 3.5 times as much from tobacco exports in January than it did in the same month of 2023, reports The Herald.

    The country exported leaf worth $274.7 million last month, compared with $80.9 million a year ago. The golden leaf raked in just over $1.2 billion from the more than 233 million kilograms exported in 2023.

    According to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board, exporters shipped 37.8 million kg to date this year, with the bulk of leaf going to China, which has so far imported 30.2 million kg valued at $248.8 million. The average price was $8.24 per kg.

    African countries imported the second largest amount of Zimbabwean tobacco at 3.2 million kg worth $9.3 million at an average price of $2.89 per kg.

    European Union countries imported 1.3 million kg of tobacco from Zimbabwe valued at $2.6 million at an average price of $2.09 a kg.

    For next season, Zimbabwe’s tobacco growers have thus far planted 113,101 hectares, compared to 117,645 ha in the same period last year.

    The decrease in tobacco planting is largely attributed to the delayed start of the rainy season.