Zimbabwe’s 2023 tobacco auction season officially opened today with good quality tobacco leaf expected this year.
The first tobacco bale sold at US$4.35 per kg from US$4.20 last year at the official opening which took place at Tobacco Sales Floor (TSF) in Harare.
In 2021 the first bale was US$4.30 and US$4 in 2020.
Farmers will retain 85 percent of sales in foreign currency, up from 75 percent last season.
Zimbabwe expects to produce 230 million kilogrammes of tobacco in the 2023 marketing season, up from 212 million kg last year.
The Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) has licensed the Premier Tobacco Auction Floor and TSL to auction tobacco this season.
Tobacco is the country’s biggest agricultural foreign currency earner and is expected to improve supply to the foreign currency auction at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
Last year the country raked in just above US$ 600 million from tobacco exports.
