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Malawi registered a 55% increase in the sale of tobacco. In value terms, this works out to US $282 million as against US$182 million in the previous year. The flip side is that despite the increase in volume, this year’s sales are still lower compared to previous years when they hit over US$350 million
Malawi registered a 55% increase in the sale of tobacco. In value terms, this works out to US $282 million as against US$182 million in the previous year. The flip side is that despite the increase in volume, this year’s sales are still lower compared to previous years when they hit over US$350 million. Analysts maintain that the fall in sales was mainly due to the Russian-Ukraine war, as the export of tobacco to these regions has been quite substantial.
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Production was lower last year. Malawi did not have enough dollar reserves to import various agricultural inputs like fertilizers and even fuel. This year’s production which is more than US$121 million is thanks to the good weather. The Southern African country is one of the lowest-income countries. Most of its income comes from the export of tobacco and is ranked the highest producer in the world for burley and seventh for overall production. Zimbabwe is reckoned as the largest producer of tobacco in Africa. Over 70 percent of the nation’s export income comes from tobacco. However, of late, returns from tobacco, dubbed as the ‘Malawi’s Green Gold’, have dwindled over the past decades. This is mainly due to declining global demand as a result of aggressive anti-smoking campaigns.
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The crop is grown in the central plateaus of the country, mostly in small holdings below 2.5 acres as compared to other tobacco-growing countries like the United States, where acreage under each farmer is large. There are isolated cases of plantations with large acreage. Most of the places where tobacco is grown are small and in small landholdings throughout the country. The capacity to produce tobacco for the country is estimated at over 100 million kilograms.
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The share of Malawian tobacco crop has been falling since 2004, as also tobacco’s share of the total value of crop production. The latest available figures indicate that in 2021, Malawi exported US$437 million in raw tobacco to destinations like Germany (US 92.4million), Russia (US$70.6million), Ukraine (US$56.6million), Poland (US$40million), and Turkey (US 21million). Of late, Malawi is focusing more on maize because of the imminent decline in the demand for tobacco. But tobacco still remains as the major cash, crop accounting for approximately 70% of the country’s total export earnings.
