AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE price of sesame has plunged by almost a third this season contributed by Covid-19 pandemic effect on global business.
The price was hit hard due to the effect of coronavirus on major sesame buyer, China, which account for almost 90 percent of the country’s export.
According to Tanzania Mercantile Exchange (TMX), prices across various region auctions ranged between 1,900/-and 2,500/-since the season started late last month compared to around 3000/-of the similar period last year.
Tanzania Pulses Network, National Coordinator, Zirack Andrew, told ‘africa-press’ on Thursday that the decline appears to respond from global plunge of sesame prices due to coronavirus pandemic lockdown.
“Several exporting companies’ attributes this plunge to Covid–19 pandemic, as many countries resolved to lockdown approach which made hotels and restaurants out of work for nearly five months. ”This negative change is not unique from other commodities traded in the world as many of them have slipped southward too, thanks to reduced consumption pattern distorted by banning of public gatherings,” Mr Andrew said.
He said calculations based on Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), the average price of sesame at the port of Dar es Salaam (FOB) was around 1.5 US dollars per kilo.
The current global average price stands at 1.3 US dollars per kilo–a nearly 20 percent slump from 1.6 US dollars per kilo sold last year.
According to TMX, Mtwara dominates the sesame business in the country as this Tuesday auction in four centres over 1.2million kilos at price ranging between 1,900/- and 2,300/-a kilo.
In the same day, Bahi in Dodoma and Babati in Manyara auctioned almost 120,000 kilos of sesame at prices ranging between 2,000/-and 2,200/-a kilo.
The highest price so far were quoted in Kondoa in Dodoma and Babati in Manyara when the season started mid-last month where high price was 2,420/- and lower 2,380/-.
During the sale same 110,000 kilos were auctioned. So far some 1.75million kilos have been auctioned since the season started last month of which 1.2 million kilos sold from Mtwara alone.
The leading market of Tanzanian sesame is China, which took 108,861 tons, valued at 164.5 million US dollars – 87.3 per cent—of the entire last year’s exports. Other importer are; Japan, South Korea, Turkey and India.
