• March 29, 2024

Zimbabwe’s leaf prices second highest

Zimbabwe’s flue-cured tobacco prices, which averaged US$3.17 per kg during the 2014 marketing season, were the second highest in the world, according to a story in the Zimbabwe Business News quoting the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board’s (TIMB) CEO, Dr. Andrew Matibiri.

The highest prices were said to have been paid in the US (presumably during the 2013 sales season), where they ‘hovered around’ US$3.80 per kg.

Matibiri was quoted as saying that the ‘soaring tobacco prices’ on the domestic market were propelled in part by a sharp increase in the number of growers.

However, though Zimbabwe’s 2013/14 growing and sales season was hugely successful in producing and marketing about 210 million kg, the biggest crop for 14 years; the average grower price was more than 14 percent down on that of the 2012/13 season, $3.69 per kg.