In 24 hours’ time the 2024/25 Tobacco Marketing Season will officially open at Kanengo Floors in Lilongwe, but growers are still in the dark regarding the minimum price for the main export earner.
Tobacco Commission (TC) spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe, in an interview yesterday, confirmed that the minimum prices were yet to be published, but would be gazetted before the market opens.
“Usually, prices are gazetted before the opening, so this one looks okay,” he said.
But a tobacco industry source said this was an anomaly because “the expectation was that the gazetting would be done by Friday last week”.
In separate interviews, Tama Farmers Trust president Abiel Kalima-Banda and chief executive officer Nixon Lita, whose organisation represents tobacco growers’ interests, confirmed that they were yet to get communication on the minimum prices.
Said Kalima-Banda: “We have not yet received communication from TC on minimum prices and we are still waiting, hoping that the prices will reflect the rising cost of production this year.
“It is our hope that prices will surpass the mark reached last year.”
On his part, Lita indicated that while growers were consulted on the minimum prices based on the cost of production, prices are only made official after TC engages buyers on the same.
“As growers we were consulted, and submitted our concerns. The 2024/25 season has recorded a sharp increase in commodities on the market, including farm inputs like fertiliser,” he said.
On the other hand, a source privy to the discussions on tobacco prices confided in The Nation that the TC and buyers were meeting yesterday on proposed minimum prices.
During the 2024 Tobacco Marketing Season official opening on April 15 2025 at Chinkhoma Floors in Kasungu District, the price of the leaf surpassed $3 (about K5 253) per kilogramme (kg).
This year, TC licensed about 54 370 farmers to grow 238.9 million kg of tobacco against the buyers’ demand of 213 million kg. However, first round tobacco estimates show supply is around 174 million kg.
Despite the delayed communication on the prices, Chigwenembe said all was set for the official opening tomorrow with 1.5 million bales expected to be auctioned during the season. In all, 11 companies are expected to buy the leaf.
In the 2025 tobacco marketing season, Zimbabwe’s auction prices have reached a record high of $4.95 per kg, surpassing the previous record of $4.92, according to tobacco industry sources.
Last season, TC licensed farmers to grow 265.9 million kg of the leaf, but growers ended up producing 133 million kg.
In the last season, Malawi’s economy earned $396.9 (about K694.9 billion) from the leaf sold at an average price of $2.98 (K5 217) per kg, a rise from the previous season’s $282.1 million (K494 billion) at average price of $2.14 (about K3 747) per kg.
In 2021/2022 season, the country earned $197 million (about K344.9 billion) at an average price of $1.59 (about K2 784) per kg while in 2020/21 season, the country realised $195 million (about K341.4 billion) at an average price of $1.60 (about K2 801) per kg.
With over 50 000 registered farmers, tobacco, which contributes about 15 percent of Malawi’s gross domestic product, is the country’s main forex earner and generates about 20 percent of the country’s national tax revenue.
When in season, the crop is widely seen as a stabilising factor to foreign exchange shortages.
