The Tobacco Commission (TC) says the 2026 tobacco marketing season has performed satisfactorily, with an overall tobacco uptake rate of 92.6 percent recorded during the first 12 weeks of sales, despite concerns over sluggish auction sales.
According to the 2026 Tobacco Market Performance Report covering 20 April to 10 July 2026, Malawi sold 98,926,141 kilograms of tobacco worth US$202.2 million, at an average price of US$2.04 per kilogram.
TC spokesperson Telephorus Chigwenembe said the overall market performance remains encouraging.
“At 90 to 92 percent overall tobacco uptake, looking at the market as a whole, the market performance is satisfactory,” said Chigwenembe.
The report shows a significant contrast between the two marketing channels.
Contract tobacco achieved an uptake rate of 97.2 percent, while auction tobacco recorded only 41.3 percent, resulting in a combined uptake rate of 92.6 percent.
Despite the positive overall performance, Chigwenembe said the Commission remains concerned about the low uptake of auction tobacco.
“As the Tobacco Commission, we remain concerned with the uptake rate of auction tobacco, which continues to be lower than we would have wanted to see,” he said.
Compared to the same period last year, both tobacco sales volumes and earnings have declined. During the corresponding period in 2025, Malawi sold 126,557,980 kilograms valued at US$319.5 million, with an average price of US$2.52 per kilogram. This represents a drop of about 27.6 million kilograms in volume and more than US$117 million in earnings.
Chigwenembe said the Commission will continue engaging buyers and other stakeholders to improve market performance.
“We will continue to engage different stakeholders on the market situation this marketing season,” he said.
The Tobacco Commission reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring farmers receive better returns while maintaining an orderly and transparent tobacco market throughout the remainder of the 2026 market season.
