According to central bank data that Lusa had access to this Monday, the value of Mozambique’s tobacco exports fell by 25% in the first nine months of 2023 compared to the previous year, to 45.1 million euros.
According to a statistical report from the Bank of Mozambique, tobacco product exports for the three quarters of 2022 (January-September) amounted to $66.4 million (€60.6 million).
In the first three quarters of 2023, tobacco exports fell to $49.4 million (€45.1 million), according to the same report.
According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report published in 2023, Mozambique has the eighth largest tobacco-growing area in the world.
With an area under tobacco cultivation of 91,469 hectares, Mozambique remains third in the African region after Zimbabwe (112,770 hectares) and Malawi (100,962 hectares).
Brazil (with the third largest area under cultivation, 357,230 hectares) and Mozambique are the only Portuguese-speaking countries mentioned in the WHO report, which identifies the 50 countries with the largest area under cultivation of this plant, formerly classified as a medicinal plant and now the target of criticism. and political measures against its mass use.