President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week opened a $100 million tobacco processing plant in Harare built by agribusiness firm Cut Rag Processors (CRP). The new facility can convert 3,000 tons of tobacco a month into cut rag and has the capacity to produce up to 60,000 master cases of cigarettes — the equivalent of 600 million sticks.

The investment targets Zimbabwe’s constrained processing base. Although the country’s 10 cigarette manufacturers produce about 4.4 billion cigarettes a year, they process only 10–15% of locally grown tobacco. The Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB) wants to lift that share to 30% through private-sector investment to capture more value in an export-focused sector.

The expansion also feeds into a broader government goal: under the Food Systems, Agriculture and Rural Transformation Strategy, authorities aim to generate $7 billion in tobacco revenues by 2030. In 2024 Zimbabwe earned $1.4 billion from tobacco exports, with 94% coming from unprocessed leaf.

Production is rising quickly. The 2025 harvest jumped 53% to a record 354,000 tons — a 92% increase since 2020 — and TIMB projects output could approach 500,000 tons by 2030. Limited processing capacity, however, remains a key constraint.

This article was adapted from an original report published on tobaccoreporter.com. All rights belong to the original publisher.