Tobacco earnings remain unimpressive at $195m
The tobacco industry is still struggling to impress with the market so far earning $195.4 million against $283 million earned during the same time last year.
A trading update for week 18 of this year’s tobacco market shows that 106 million kilogrammes of burley tobacco went through the auction against 144 million kilogrammes auctioned same time last year.
Burley earnings for the period under review are currently at $148 million against $245 million earned in July 2015.
Flue Cured tobacco has earned $42 million from 16 million kilogrammes, while last year the story was different as Flue contributed $35 million from 14 million kilogrammes.
Reserve Bank of Malawi statistics for last year show that prices for tobacco averaged $1.90 per kilogramme during the month under review, compared to $2.10 per kilogramme fetched in July 2014.
Tobacco earnings for July 2015 amounted to $87.5 million.
Cumulative earnings from tobacco sales for 2015 marketing season amounted to $271.1 million as at end July 2015.
The market has, however, sold, through the auction, over half of its estimated production which is 124 million kilogrammes.
