Tobacco industry regulator Tobacco Commission (TC) has confiscated 3,420 bales of tobacco for nesting since opening of this year’s selling season.
The Tobacco Industry Act (2024) defines nesting as the concealment of substandard tobacco within a bale or the concealment of stems, scraps, loose leaf or any other object within a bale of graded tobacco bundles with an intention to deceive a buyer on quality and weight of tobacco.
In a statement Wednesday, TC Public Relations Officer Telephorus Chigwenembe said nesting is a deliberate undertaking to cheat, which compromises the integrity of Malawi tobacco.
He said any act aimed at cheating in the tobacco industry is punishable.
“We found foreign objects such as stones, sand and trash in these bales. This vice has the ability to destroy the industry in that tobacco buyers may opt out of the market for being cheated,” Chigwenembe said
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He said out of the 3,420 bales, 2,772 have been sent to rehandling companies.
In an earlier interview, Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) Trust President Abiel Kalima Banda faulted owners of the bales for the vice.
“We ask all farmers to desist from the vice to preserve the integrity of the industry,” Kalima- Banda said.
Meanwhile, as at Friday, July 19, a total of 130.3 million kilogrammes (kg) of tobacco had been sold at an average price of $2.97 per kg, realising $386.9 million.
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A report of the third-round tobacco estimates survey released last week projects 2024 tobacco production at 129 million kg.
