Taiwan to directly buy Malawi tobacco this year

Malawi’s tobacco industry Tuesday received a big boost from the Republic of China on Taiwan which has agreed to have the crop enter the island state’s markets directly starting this year.

The Taiwanese ambassador to Malawi, James Chuang, told journalists in Lilongwe on Tuesday that his government will from this year going to purchase flue cured tobacco worth 1,190.4 tonnes from local tobacco processing companies.

Chuang said a state-owned Taiwanese tobacco organisation recommended that the local companies should directly supply them the leaf after complying with all the required procedures.

In years past, Taiwan bought the country’s crop from middlemen who had themselves acquired the tobacco from Malawi’s tobacco firms.

Apart from buying flue cured tobacco, Taiwan also was likely to purchase a substantial amount of burley tobacco from Malawi.

"As a bilateral partner, we would like to empower local Malawian farmers economically as well as in the decision-making process in terms of the tobacco industry," he said.

According to Chuang, 691.2 tonnes would be bought from the locally-dominated Premium TAMA tobacco firm, while 499.2 tonnes will be purchased from the American-owned Limbe Leaf Tobacco Company.

Tobacco Association of Malawi (TAMA) President Charles Mwansambo said the move would further boost the local economy which mainly depends on agriculture, with tobacco being the country’s highest foreign currency earner.