AHL Group has assured farmers that Mzuzu and Chinkhoma Auction Floors will not be sold.
In a statement, the company says the two facilities are of national strategic important and are assets to the Malawi economy.
Earlier this month, FDH Bank placed an advert in a newspaper announcing that the two facilities are up for sale by tender.
But AHL says the floors will not be sold and will continue being used as normal.
“The floors are there to provide a marketplace for tobacco farmers so that they can sell their tobacco smoothly, earn a living and support their families and communities.
“We therefore would like to assure tobacco farmers, merchants and all other stakeholders that all our market will operate as normal in the coming season,” said part of the statement.
According to AHL, the auction floors are important because they ensure that forex earned from tobacco is accounted for and channeled through the economy accordingly.
AHL added that in 2018 alone, it transacted $337.5 million from the tobacco industry on behalf of the country saying this was possible because of the structured market facilities which the company owns.
“This is a national responsibility which we have carried for over 80 years and we shall continue to put our country’s interests first and above everything else,” says the statement.
In the advert that appeared in The Nation of 7th December, FDH Bank priced Mzuzu Auction Floors at K1.6 billion while Chinkhoma was being sold at K1.25 billion.
The bank advertised the properties after AHL failed to pay back money that it borrowed in previous years.
Recently, AHL Group through its Chief Executive Officer Evance Matabwa told Malawians that the company made K3.8 billion in the 2018 selling season alone.
