PROCEDURES FOR THE SALE OF FLUE-CURED TOBACCO UNDER THE DUAL (CONTRACT AND AUCTION) SYSTEM IN 2012

1.0 PREAMBLE

The dual system will be operating in 2012 for the seventh successive season.

Auction sales are set to commence on Wednesday, 15^th February 2012 with contract sales starting on Thursday, 16^th February 2012. The sales commence at 7:30 am and end at 1:00 pm.

The booking system will be opened on 6^th February 2012 and deliveries to sales points will start on Thursday, 9^th February 2012.

To ensure orderly marketing, growers producing for auction will sell their entire production through auction sales. As is usual more than one contractor could have funded a contracted grower. Accordingly, an agreed arrangement of sharing the crop amongst contractors and loan recovery from contract growers will be operated. However, the overriding principal will be that contractors will be obliged to purchase tobacco equivalent to the level of indebtedness of the grower. Thereafter transactions will be by mutual consent of the parties involved.

All transaction on sales floors will be denominated in United States dollars and accordingly, growers will be paid their sales proceeds in United States dollars, less statutory payments, selling commissions and stop order deductions.

All growers will be given a stated amount as cash with the rest being deposited into their FCA account. However, a grower can elect not to encash any portion of his/her sales proceeds, and decide to have his/her entire proceeds transferred into his/her FCA account, by informing the auction floor before the sale.

The primary objective of the Tobacco Industry & Marketing Board is to promote tobacco production and to ensure orderly marketing of tobacco. Therefore these rules are made for this purpose as well as to ensure that the tobacco offered for sale is in an acceptable marketing condition and that payments are effected (a) by the buyer for purchases and (b) to the grower for his tobacco, in a smooth manner.

The inaugural National Tobacco Conference ushered in by the new T.I.M.B. Board of directors was applauded by many as a noble initiative. The event which going forward will be annual, was held on 27-28 October at the Holiday Inn Hotel and was attended by 123 executives from various institutions representing government ministries, regulatory authorities, growers,buyers, financiers, insurers, research & training, service providers and suppliers to the industry.

The move to convene this workshop was necessitated by a background of challenges faced by the industry, from production to marketing of tobacco. The theme of the workshop was “Reviewing the Industry for Sustainable Growth”.

For more detail go under File Resources,download "Executive Summary 1.pdf"