The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board of Zimbabwe (TIMB) recently announced that this year’s tobacco leaf auction in Zimbabwe will start on March 13, and contract-grown tobacco leaves will be sold from March 14. Compared with last year, Zimbabwe's tobacco leaf sales season started a few days later this year. Last year, Zimbabwe's tobacco leaf auction transactions began on March 8, and contract-grown tobacco leaves were sold from March 9. TIMB statistics show that as of February 2, Zimbabwean tobacco farmers planted 113,101 hectares of tobacco leaves, a year-on-year decrease of 4%. Rodney Ambrose, CEO of the Zimbabwe Tobacco Association (ZTA), said tobacco leaf prices are expected to be firmer this year due to factors such as increased production costs.
