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| Business |
| Tobacco sales resume at Limbe Floors |
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by
Tadala Makata Kakwesa, 14 April 2005
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14:59:12
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Tobacco sales resumed in Limbe with the leaf fetching a lower minimum price than what was offered in Lilongwe at the resumption of sales on Tuesday..
The lowest price offered yesterday was 50 cents (K56.50) per kilogramme as opposed to 80 cents (K90.40) in Lilongwe on Tuesday.
The highest price was US$1.40 (K152.20) just like in Lilongwe.
Tobacco Control Commission (TCC) general manger Evans Chapola, however, described the Limbe prices as reasonable.
“We should not just look at the prices on offer but also the quality of the tobacco,” he explained.
Chapola said the sales have only started and the offers made are for the first tobacco which usually is of low quality. He said the prices are expected to rise as the auction progresses.
But one of the farmers, village headman Mwala 1 of Zomba said they are not happy with the offers.
“We are surprised that these days buyers are no longer considerate, maybe it’s because government is not doing anything. Why should our tobacco be sold at as low as 50 or 60 cents and yet our government deducts some money in form of revenue from the same small amount,” he complained
Charles Graham, chairman of the Tobacco Exports of Malawi, (Team), who is also the managing director of Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company also described the prices on offer as fair by looking at the global market.
“We have bought the tobacco in sincerity we have never left any tobacco to the farmers. We, therefore, urge them to be calm and to understand that we have to compete with other producers on the global market,” he said.
Graham disputed reports that buyers are offering poor prices because they also grow their own tobacco which comes out to be of a better quality than the farmers’.
“There is no buyer that has ever grown burley tobacco, its only flue cured but also in very small amount, and there is no problem with that,” explained Graham
The sales in Limbe were suspended on Monday last week, the opening day.
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