The volume of tobacco industry production in Mozambique stood at 200 million meticals (3.1 million dollars) in the first half of 2024, corresponding to a reduction of 71.7 per cent compared to the same period last year, when there was an income of 709 million meticals (10.9 million dollars).
According to the data published by Lusa, this performance represents 2.7 per cent of the target set by the government for the whole year, which estimates that production will reach 7.5 billion meticals (116.3 million dollars).
In June, the Ministry of Economy and Finance announced that the tobacco industry’s production fell by 50% in the first three months of 2024, totalling only 7 million meticals.
In 2023, production increased by 23 per cent compared to the previous year, reaching 4.4 million meticals. ‘During the 2022-23 agricultural year, the country had a tobacco-growing area of 76,850 hectares, producing 65,856 tonnes, a 15% reduction compared to the previous agricultural year,’ the organisation explained.
For the current 2023-24 season, the Executive plans to cultivate an area of 129,300 hectares and produce 81,200 tonnes. ‘Mozambique has the eighth largest tobacco-growing area in the world, according to the World Health Organisation report released, and is the third largest producer in Africa,’ he recalled.
