By Roy Howa LILONGWE, September 03, Mana: Malawi’s smallest tobacco selling floor, Limbe, has recorded the highest average price at US$2.15 per kilogramme despite handling only 9.32 percent of the tobacco sold on the market, according to figures released by the Tobacco Commission (TC) on Thursday, September 03, 2026. The figures, covering 19 weeks of […]
By Roy Howa
LILONGWE, September 03, Mana: Malawi’s smallest tobacco selling floor, Limbe, has recorded the highest average price at US$2.15 per kilogramme despite handling only 9.32 percent of the tobacco sold on the market, according to figures released by the Tobacco Commission (TC) on Thursday, September 03, 2026.
The figures, covering 19 weeks of trading up to August 28, 2026, show that Limbe handled 13.27 million kilogrammes of tobacco, while Lilongwe, which handled the largest volume at 57.42 million kilogrammes or 40.33 percent of the national volume, averaged US$1.97 per kilogramme.
Mzuzu recorded an average price of US$2.01 per kilogramme, while Chinkhoma recorded the lowest average at US$1.91 per kilogramme against the national average of US$1.98.
The figures have prompted TC to emphasise the importance of tobacco quality, with TC’s Public Relations Officer Telephorus Chigwenembe saying higher volumes alone do not necessarily translate into higher returns.
“What the floor market information is telling us clearly is that when we are looking at the tobacco market, we should be looking at both volume and quality. More volumes do not automatically translate to high value,” he said.
Chigwenembe said that while Malawi needs to produce sufficient tobacco to satisfy market demand, farmers and other stakeholders should also place greater emphasis on improving the quality of the crop.
“Tobacco quality can outweigh volume. So while ensuring we produce volumes that satisfy demand, we should also be aiming at enhancing the quality of our crop,” he said.
The TC spokesperson has since called on stakeholders to support the Know Your Grower project, saying the initiative is aimed at addressing quality-related challenges in tobacco production.
“That is why we call upon all stakeholders in the country to support the Know Your Grower project that we have embarked on because what we are trying to address through this initiative are quality issues,” Chigwenembe said.
According to the TC, Limbes’ higher average price was partly attributed to the dominance of flue-cured Virginia (FCV), a high-value tobacco type which fetched a national average price of US$2.64 per kilogramme.
The 19-week figures show that the four tobacco floors had collectively sold 142.36 million kilogrammes valued at US$282.47 million, at an average price of US$1.98 per kilogramme.
