• Al Capone$44.00
• Astra$7.60
• Atis$15.30
• Avalon$12.40
• Beratt$15.10
• Bond Street$12.40
• Camel$17.00
• Chesterfield$15.10
• Cigaronne$20.10
• Classic$11.10
• Cosmos$9.43
• Davidoff$21.10
• Doina$10.10
• Dunhill$31.10
• Esse$16.70
• Eva$14.70
• Focus$11.10
• Fluieras$10.10
• Glamour$14.20
• Hilton$11.10
• Karelia$18.10
• Kent$18.90
• Kiss$13.90
• L&M$14.10
• Lady$13.80
• Leana$8.10
• LD$8.40
• Luceafar$9.60
• Lucky Strike$15.60
• Marengo$22.60
• Marlboro$18.70
• Monte Carlo$12.60
• Moods$56.60
• MT$10.60
• Nistru$8.60
• OK$13.10
• Orbita$9.60
• Pall Mall$15.30
• Parliament$22.60
• Plai$10.10
• Plugarul$10.10
• Prima Lux$11.60
• Prefect$12.40
• R1 Slim$17.40
• Red & White$11.10
• Rich$16.70
• Richmond$31.10
• Ritm$11.10
• Sobranie$38.70
• Style$12.10
• Temp$10.10
• Viceroy$11.60
• Virginia$17.70
• Vogue$21.10
• Wind$12.40
• Winston$15.60
• Zimbru$9.60

Zimbabwe Tobacco Auction sets records

This year’s world-famous tobacco auction held in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe annually, was distinguished by historically high prices and diminutive crop, second smallest in the last half-century. The greater part of small tobacco plantations did not managed to plant tobacco this year due to the lack of money, since neither banks, nor government provided money to pay for fertilizers and other expenses.

The 2009 tobacco auction in Zimbabwe generated around $160, with $3.60-price per kilogram on the average. The major part of the crop was sold to European and Chinese tobacco companies.

In general, almost 50 million kilograms of tobacco was sold, with around 80 percent of the aggregate crop was cropped by several white farmers on the small areas of land that remained untouched by President Robert Mugabe's current confiscations of the land historically owned by white farmers.

Before the government began seizing lands almost ten years ago, large tobacco farms operated by white farmers and a constantly increasing number of black farmers grew almost 230 million kilograms of tobacco annually. The tobacco crop was the keystone of the country’s economy, and major source of revenues.

However, as the number farm forfeitures kept growing this year and the economic situation kept worsening, commercial banks declined giving loans to tobacco growers. The main reason for the refusals stayed the same in al banks – the uncertainty about the future of the lands and crops because of the ingoing chain of land seizures.

Therefore, the tobacco growers who didn’t manage to get a loan were forced to vend their harvests to foreign tobacco companies, who paid for such expenses like fertilizers. Joshua Mutombe, ex-president of the National Tobacco Growers Association said that due to being under constant threat of possible land invasion, many farmers agreed to sell their harvests for almost 80 percent of the price on the Harare auction.

Mutombe, who moved to South Africa in 2005, when his farm was confiscated, admitted that that until farmers were provided with the ownership rights and banks trusted them, the crops would continue falling, destructing the Zimbabwe’s economy and pushing people to the brink of existence.

Currently only private, small farms brought their crops to the auction. According to the National Tobacco Growers Association Nowadays, the number of tobacco farms across the nation declined from more than 15,000 to around 8,000; with almost 30 percent of them failed to raise crops this year because of the lack of money.

Many farmers complained that they had to grow less tobacco because they did not have sufficient funds for their inputs; however, there were as well satisfied farmers at the Harare auction, the largest tobacco auction in the world.

Dikembe Budingu, who got the white-owned land two years ago, said he was delighted with the revenue, which would help him plant more tobacco next year.

Several commercial plantations already began planting tobacco for next year’s crop on their own risk, since it is not certain that they would own this land by next year’s auction.