TIMB licenses 38 tobacco buyers
THE Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has licensed 38 buyers ahead of the opening of the 2019 tobacco selling season later this month.
Last year, the marketing board licensed 32 buyers.
In an interview yesterday, TIMB chief executive officer Dr Andrew Matibiri who could not be drawn into giving the actual date of opening of this year’s tobacco marketing season, attributed the increase in the number of buyers this year to improved interest by indigenous entrepreneurs who were looking for the crop’s market overseas.
“For auction floors we have the same three auction floors as last year. And for buyers so far we have got 38 that have been licensed by TIMB compared to 32 last year.
“And there are a lot of local people (indigenous entrepreneurs) who are now looking for markets overseas for tobacco, so this is why the number of buyers is increasing,” he said.
The three auction floors that were licensed by TIMB last year are Premier Tobacco Auction Floors, Boka Tobacco Auction Floors and Tobacco Sales Floors.
Dr Matibiri said getting a tobacco-buying licence from TIMB was easy but most of the licensed buyers fail to secure foreign currency to buy the crop at the auction floors.
“The requirements for a tobacco-buying licence are not that difficult.
“There is a form that a potential buyer fills in and the entrepreneur must also be compliant in terms of all our statutory requirements such as registration of the company, among others.
“The buyers after meeting all the registration procedures, have to satisfy the Exchange Control requirements, as I have said is the bigger hurdle,” he said.
Tobacco is one of Zimbabwe’s major foreign currency earners.
Meanwhile, the country has since the beginning of the year exported 35 million kilogrammes of flue-cured tobacco worth $162,5 million around the world at an average price of $4,64 a kg.
During the comparable period last year, 20 million kg of the golden leaf had been exported at an average price of $4,64 a kg raking in $92,2 million.
Zimbabwe exports flue-cured tobacco around the globe to over 60 countries with China leading as the major consumer of the golden leaf from Zimbabwe.
In 2018, that Asian country spent $449,7 million importing 59,1 million kg of the golden leaf at an average price of 7,61 a kg.
Zimbabwe last year earned $892 million from 184,1 million kilogrammes exported to different parts of the world while in 2017, the country earned $904 million from 182,4 million kg at an average price of $4,96 a kg. — @okazunga