Flue-cured prices up on last year’s

With 12.7 million kg of the current crop of flue-cured tobacco sold, Zimbabwe’s farmers have been paid an average price of US$2.48 a kg, up 11 percent on that of the same period of last year’s sales, according to a story in The Herald.

The Herald story was headed, ‘Positive start to 2016 tobacco marketing season’, but, in 2013, with 8.9 million kg of flue-cured tobacco sold during the first 12 days of Zimbabwe’s sales, farmer prices stood at US$3.42 a kg, down from US$3.60 a kg during the comparable period of the 2012 season.

So opening prices have fallen by about 31 percent during the five years from 2012 to 2016.