An increase of between 15-20 percent of tobacco seed sales has been sold this season with 5,000 hectares of land already under seed, which should produce about 160 million kg.
TIMB said the industry was prepared for high volumes of tobacco after six other suppliers of tobacco wrapping material were licensed to avoid shortages that occurred last season.
No shortage of the packaging material was reported this season. But, the booking system put in place to reduce congestion at the auction floors was not as effective, as growers continued to bring their tobacco without registering.