Tobacco Auction Floors Open Today For 2020 Marketing Season

Zimbabwe’s 2020 tobacco marketing season starts this Wednesday with the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) saying it is satisfied with the level of preparedness at all auction floors.

The date was confirmed by TIMB chief executive, Dr Andrew Matibiri, on Tuesday. He said that all was in place for the official opening by a senior government official. He added:

Auction floors will open tomorrow(today) and contract sales on Thursday. Deliveries are still low. We are continuing with awareness campaigns to farmers and we are confident the message of the Covid-19 preventive measures will get to all farmers.

There were fears that the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic would affect the marketing season which could have been a blow to the country since the “golden leaf” is one of the country’s major sources of foreign currency.

Usually, the business sector capitalised on the tobacco marketing season to sell large volumes of their commodities to farmers but this year will be different due to the national lockdown.

Tobacco companies also used to employ hundreds of people during this period and this year is likely to be a missed opportunity for the citizenry.

More: The Herald