A look into Malawi’s over $200 million tobacco revenue accrued in 9 weeks

Malawi’s tobacco industry, a cornerstone of its economy, has generated $206.5 million in the first nine weeks of the 2025 selling season, surpassing half of last year’s total of $396 million.

This year’s sales have fallen below the $258.2 million from 89.8 million kg sold at $2.87/kg in the same period last year, according to an Auction Holdings Limited (AHL) Tobacco Sales Limited report for the week ending June 6.

The revenue comes from 83.6 million kg of tobacco sold at an average price of $2.47/kg, nearly doubling from 44.7 million kilograms in week six. Tobacco Commission (TC) spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe said in an interview on Saturday, June 7, “The average price has been improving in recent weeks, a development that could have a positive effect on the revenues.”

Prices rose from $2.36/kg in week six to $2.40/kg, $2.43/kg, $2.45/kg, and $2.47/kg in weeks seven through nine.

Tama Farmers Trust CEO Nixon Lita, in a separate Saturday interview, attributed the price increase to better quality, stating, “It is a good development to see that the average price has gone up. We expect to see more of such increases as we are getting less of the bottom leaf and moving to the upper leaves as the season progresses.”

Ministry of Agriculture’s controller of agriculture extension services, Alfred Mwenifumbo, emphasised future strategies, saying, “The government through the tobacco regulatory body wants to focus on value-addition and increased productivity to enable the country to realise more from the crop.”

“For example, in the past, the industry was a monopoly of smallholder farmers, farmers with land holdings of less than one hectare or two hectares. We are now talking of inviting mega farms, that is, farmers owning more than 20 hectares all the way to 100 hectares. We are hopeful that by 2030, there will be more large-scale farmers and the industry will grow,” he added.

The TC’s five-year plan promotes large-scale farming and modern technology to boost output and quality, addressing low prices.

Malawi’s 2025 tobacco production is projected at 174.4 million kg, below the 213 million kg buyer demand, compared to 133 million kg in 2024. Tobacco accounts for over 50% of foreign exchange earnings and 13% of GDP, underscoring its economic weight.

Disclaimer: The image for the article was AI-generated