Malawi Tobacco Market Opens April 8‏; Chinese İn

Malawi's tobacco markets will open on April 8 after long delays due to the late onset of the rainy season and recent flooding, with a Chinese company poised to make its debut in the local industry.



"This year, we have licensed three new buyers," Bruce Munthali, CEO of Malawi's Tobacco Control Commission (TCC), told The Anadolu Agency.



"One of them is a Chinese company named Sino-Ma, which is ready to spend around $30 million [roughly 13 billion Malawi kwacha] to purchase tobacco leaf in Malawi," he said.



"Sino-Ma will also set up a plant for processing secondary tobacco products – such as smokeless cigarettes – in Lilongwe," he added.



Munthali said the Chinese firm was in the process of importing equipment and had already applied for land on which it planned to set up a processing factory.



"This is a huge investment in Malawi's tobacco sector," he told AA.



The new tobacco-buying company is expected to create some 200 jobs once it begins operations in the landlocked, southeastern African country.



"The company will also help generate foreign currency, while also paying taxes to the government," said Munthali, whose TCC regulates Malawi's tobacco industry.



"More importantly for the tobacco industry, it will create competition for buyers. The real winner will be the farmer, who will get better prices for his or her tobacco," he contended.



Tobacco is one of Malawi's main foreign currency earners, contributing about 60 percent to the country's total foreign exchange earnings.



About 12 percent of the national population is said to be employed by the tobacco sector.



-Welcomed-



Graham Kunimba, CEO of the Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA), said farmers were happy to have more competitors for this year's crop.



"Farmers are excited; they expect more competition, which means better prices," he told AA. "All farmers want is better prices."



Munthali said the country's major tobacco markets would open first in capital Lilongwe on April 8, followed by Limbe Auction Floors in southern Malawi on April 13, and then in the north on April 20 at the Mzuzu Auction Floors.



Under normal circumstances, the markets open in early March.



Last year, the markets opened for business on March 24 and closed on Sept. 12, selling 191,941,235kg of tobacco for a total of $361.5 million, according to TCC data.



Munthali noted that tobacco output this year had fallen to 181 million kilograms, due largely to earlier flooding and a dry spell that had affected most of the country.



"Despite these challenges, the country will exceed its demand for flue-cured tobacco – but it may have difficulty satisfying the demand for burley tobacco," he told AA.



"Overall, the quality of leaf this year is very good," he said.



Munthali expects the buying price for burley, which is grown by most Malawians, to range between 85 cents (379 Malawi kwacha) and $4.50 (roughly 2,000 kwacha) per kilogram.



Last year's minimum price was set at $1.76 (784 kwacha) per kilogram.



Gilbert Banda, a grower in Lilongwe, said the opening of the tobacco markets would come as a huge relief to growers, who only earn money from the crop once a year.



"We've been awaiting this announcement," he told AA. "Growers are anxious for better prices this year, because last year prices were too low."



www.aa.com.tr/en - Blantyre