Zimbabwe’s tobacco marketing season officially opened this morning.

Vice president Kembo Mohadi auctioned the first bale, which was bidding for $6 a kilogramme.

It however fetched a price of $4.50 per kilogramme.

Also in attendance was the deputy Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and Rural Resettlement Vangelis Haristotos.

Government says it has authorised the Forestry Commission to handle 50 percent of the tobacco levy for afforestation activities.

Zimbabwe’s large-scale tobacco growers have been granted a 180-day foreign currency retention period.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe also announced that small-scale tobacco farmers can hold onto their foreign currency earnings as free funds indefinitely.

Tobacco is Zimbabwe’s single biggest foreign currency earner.

Last year’s tobacco selling season hit a record high of 237,1 kilogrammes, as Chinese demand for flue-cured tobacco from Zimbabwe increased.

The country exports flue-cured tobacco to different parts of the world with China being the largest tobacco consumer.

With an estimated 350 million smokers, the Asian country spends around $200 million annually on Zimbabwean tobacco.

Other top buyers of flue-cured tobacco from Zimbabwe are South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia and Belgium.