Zimbabwe has so far sold half of the tobacco crop that it is expecting to produce this year, earning around 79.7 million US dollars.

Figures released by the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board on Wednesday show that some 50.9 million kg of flue cured tobacco have so far been sold since the auction floors opened in April.

The country expects to produce around 100 million kg of tobacco, up from 70 million kg produced last year.

By this time last year, some 58.8 million kg of tobacco worth 102.7 million US dollars had been sold.

Zimbabwe is a net exporter of tobacco, which accounts for more than 35 percent of gross foreign currency earnings.

Over the last few years, production of the crop has been on the decline owing to recurrent droughts and unavailability of essential inputs.

Production however started to rebound last year from less than 50 million kg in 2003 to 70 million kg.

At its peak in 2000, tobacco production reached 237 million kg, making the country the third largest producer of tobacco after Brazil and the United States.

Source: Xinhua