27 February 2025 TIMB Introduces New Regulations for Tobacco Sales The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) has announced that all tobacco not produced under a contract arrangement must be sold at auction floors during the 2024/25 marketing season.TIMB is urging merchants and contractors to comply with the regulations, particularly the new requirement that all freely produced tobacco must be sold strictly at auction floors. “We challenge all the 55 merchants licensed this season that there is no room for you to buy free tobacco as it is an auction crop that must be directed to auction floors only. Anyone, farmer or merchants, caught breaching the rule will be penalised,” TIMB Chief Executive Officer Mr. Emmanuel Matsvaire said. The Executive Director of the Agricultural Industry Development Support Institute for Southern Africa, Mr. Jeffrey Takawira, has called for an automated system that ensures contract floors cease to accept the golden leaf once they reach their contracted threshold. TIMB has additionally implemented a biometric system aimed at identifying and eliminating unscrupulous farmers and contractors who have been contributing to side marketing, distorting the pricing matrix, and threatening the competitiveness offered by auction floors through bidding. Source: ZBC News Online