Tobacco sales in Zimbabwe generated $19.4 million in the first 17 days of the 2019 marketing season, compared with $81 million over the same period last year. According to the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) deliveries of the crop are down 62 percent to 11.2 million kilograms.<\/p>\n
This season 85 percent of the national crop is estimated to be contracted, according to\u00a0NewsDay<\/em>. Due to high transportation and selling charges, growers reportedly prefer making bulk deliveries.<\/p>\n Grade prices have been lower than they were during previous seasons. According to Shadreck Makombe, president of the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers\u2019 Union,\u00a0 the majority of farmers are holding onto their crop in anticipation of better prices.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the onset the opening prices were low, and they demotivated farmers, so they are being forced to hold on their crop anticipating that as the season progresses prices will increase,\u201d said Makombe.<\/p>\n \u201cThe buyer is saying this year\u2019s quality is lower than last year\u2019s. But as farmers we are saying the quality is good, it seems they don\u2019t have money.\u201d<\/p>\n Tobacco sales in Zimbabwe generated $19.4 million in the first 17 days of the 2019 marketing season, compared with $81 million over the same period last year. According to the Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB) deliveries of the crop are down 62 percent to 11.2 million kilograms. This season 85 percent of the national crop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":5576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[83,174,240,284],"class_list":{"0":"post-7556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-money","12":"tag-prices"},"yoast_head":"\n