Being six weeks in, the tobacco market has registered a concerning revenue drop of 35% as figures from the Tobacco Commission show that Malawi made $51.464 million (about K38 billion) compared to $78.948 million (about K58 billion) during same period last year.

However, the Tobacco Association of Malawi (Tama) insisted that there should not be any hasty conclusions, as there is still more tobacco to be sold. On the other hand, efforts to improve tobacco sales are being implemented, as recently, a subsidiary of AHL Group called TIL moved in to help tobacco farmers manage their tobacco grading processes; a development aimed at easing the high rejection at selling floors.

Tama also announced that tobacco rejection rate has gone down to 27% from 70% in the first three weeks of this year’s Tobacco Marketing Season.