Malawi Changes Tobacco-Selling System

(Bloomberg) Malawi, the world’s largest grower of burley tobacco, is changing its system for selling the leaves to move away from the auction method now used to dispose of the entire crop.
The so-called Integrated Production System will enable farmers in the southern African nation to agree to grow the leaves for specific customers, according to a statement yesterday from the country’s Tobacco Control Commission. The government aims to carry out 80 percent of sales through the new system and the rest via auctions, the statement showed.
The change will control production and improve the quality of tobacco, which generates 60 percent of Malawi’s foreign exchange, according to the government. Continued