Tobacco Commission Suspends Tobacco Sales Due To Low Volumes

The Tobacco Commission (TC) suspended Monday’s tobacco sales at Lilongwe Auction Floors due to small volumes of Tobacco.

TC announced last week that the market will be opening three times a week that is Monday, Wednesday and Fridays up to the extend that the farmers start bringing the tobacco in huge amounts.

“Be advised that there won’t be tobacco sales on Monday April 11 due to limited stock. Sales will resume Wednesday April 13”,

This was a brief communication to all stakeholders in tobacco industry issued on Saturday by TC.

Telephorus Chigwenembe, TC spokesperson in a confirming manner said Joseph Chidanti Malunga, TC chief executive officer was the right candidate to shade more light on the development.

Last Thursday Chidanti expressed fear that the market has been opened earlier when many farmers are still preparing their tobacco leaf which is more reason of less turn-up and poor start of the market.

“The market is not yet at its peak so we want to stagger so that we match the flow of volumes on the market. You know managing the market involves a lot of workers, so to have them involved, it’s a big cost which we want to manage.

“We believe that in a week or so, we should have more volumes and return to normal daily trading. This is not a challenge by the way, you always start with low turnout and then pick up, therefore, there’s no cause for alarm”, He said.

Government opened the market weeks earlier on with a backing point of giving a chance to the farmers to sell their products in order to cut off economic problems in their lives.