The tobacco industry is still struggling to impress with the market so far earning $158.6 million against $240 million earned during the same time last year.
A trading update for week15 of this year’s tobacco market shows that 85 million kilogrammes of burley tobacco went through the auction against 124 million kilogrammes auctioned same time last year.
The earnings for the period under review are currently at $120 million against $210 million earned in July 2015.
Flue Cured tobacco has earned $34 million from 13.3 million kilogrammes, while last year the story was different as Flue contributed $27 million from 10 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 101.4 million kilogrammes.
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