Zimbabwe expects to produce more than 360 million kilograms (793 million pounds) of tobacco this year, surpassing a 2025 record of 355 million kilograms, the agriculture ministry said.
The rise in output will be underpinned by an increase in planting, with tobacco farmers cultivating 164,536 hectares of land, 15% more than last year, Obert Jiri, Zimbabwe’s agriculture secretary, said in an interview.
The southern African country is the continent’s biggest producer of flue-cured tobacco and the crop is one of its biggest sources of foreign currency. Its auction season is set to begin in early March and usually runs until October.
Zimbabwean farmers have exported 54.8 million kilograms of tobacco so far this year, 64% more than in the same period in 2025, with gross earnings rising 74% to $399.8 million, official data from the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board shows. Most of the crop was sold to the Far East, Middle East and Europe. Source Bloomberg
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