Mozambique: Tobacco production collapses 70% in the first six months of 2024

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Mozambique: Tobacco production collapses 70% in the first six months of 2024

6:39 CAT | 27 Aug 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The volume of tobacco industry production in Mozambique fell by 71.7% year-on-year in the first half of the year, to 200 million meticais (€2.8 million), standing at 2.7% of the target set for the whole year, according to official figures.

According to a government report that Lusa saw on Tuesday with data on the country’s industrial activity, this performance compares with 709 million meticais (€9.9 million) in the first half of 2023 and with the target of 7,567 million meticais (€106.1 million) set for the tobacco industry for the whole of 2024.

Revenues from the tobacco sector thus represented only 1% of all Mozambican industrial production from January to June, which totalled 73,052 million meticais (€1,024 million).

In the first quarter, the tobacco sector fell 46.2%, according to data previously reported by Lusa.

In the whole of 2021, the tobacco industry’s production in Mozambique totalled 7,768 million meticais (€108.9 million), a figure that fell the following year to 3,640 million meticais (€51 million).

The document also points to an estimate for the 2023/2024 campaign of 69,856 hectares under cultivation and production of 43,714 tonnes of tobacco in the country.

According to official figures previously reported by Lusa, tobacco industry production in Mozambique in 2023 grew by 23% compared to the previous year, reaching 4,475 million meticais (almost €62.7 million).

In the 2022-2023 agricultural year, Mozambique’s tobacco cultivation area was 76,850 hectares, and 65,856 tonnes of tobacco were produced, a 15% drop from the previous year.

For the 2023-2024 campaign, the government forecast an area of 129,321 hectares and production of 81,223 tonnes.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) report released in 2023 stated that Mozambique had the eighth largest tobacco-growing area globally. With an area available and cultivated with tobacco estimated by the WHO at 91,469 hectares, Mozambique was then the third largest producer in the African region, after Zimbabwe (112,770 hectares) and Malawi (100,962).

Brazil, with the third largest cultivation area of 357,230 hectares, and Mozambique are the only Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) nations mentioned in the WHO report.

The document identifies the 50 countries with the largest areas of cultivation of this plant, once classified as medicinal and now the target of criticism and political measures against mass use.

Source: Lusa