HARARE, March 5 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe expects tobacco sales, its biggest agricultural export, to increase by 21% this year as the country recovers from last year’s drought, its agriculture minister said on Wednesday.

Africa’s top tobacco producer expects sales of the crop to rebound to 280 million kilograms this year after plummeting to 230.9 million kilograms in 2024 following an El Nino-induced drought, agriculture minister Anxious Masuka said.

Despite lower production in 2024, tobacco was the second biggest export commodity for Zimbabwe last year, only behind gold, earning a record $1.3 billion.

Zimbabwe’s tobacco farmers sell their crop at auction floors and to contracting companies, which then export it, mostly to China.

The projected 2025 sales are still below the record high of 296 million kilograms registered in 2023, according to sector regulator Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board.

(Reporting by Nelson Banya and Philimon Bulawayo; Editing by Christina Fincher)