CUT Rag Processors (CRP), a recently launched US$102 million integrated tobacco processing facility, is one of the most significant private-sector investments to date in Zimbabwe’s drive to expand value addition in the tobacco sector.
The plant, which was officially commissioned by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, has the capacity to process three million kilogrammes of cut rag per month for export and produce up to 60 000 cigarette master cases monthly, according to CRP owner Simon Rudland.
“The total capital outlay for the building and machinery is US$102 million. The plant can process three million kilogrammes of cut rag monthly and produce 60 000 cigarette master cases,” Rudland said.
CRP is one of Zimbabwe’s largest exporters of cut rag and the manufacturer of the Remington Gold cigarette brand. The facility integrates both Primary Manufacturing Department (PMD) and Secondary Manufacturing Department (SMD) processing lines, enabling tobacco to be processed from leaf to finished cigarettes within a single operation.
The launch came at a strategic time, following a record 354 million kilogramme tobacco harvest in the 2025 marketing season. While Zimbabwe remains Africa’s largest tobacco producer and the world’s fifth-largest, the bulk of the crop continues to be exported in semi-processed form, limiting downstream earnings.
Industry data shows that in 2024, about 71.1 million kilogrammes of tobacco was earmarked for value addition, but only 7.2 million kilogrammes, roughly 10 percent, was actually processed locally. Of this, 3.316 million kilogrammes was used for cigarette manufacturing and 3.884 million kilogrammes converted into cut rag, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB).
Transformation Plan (TVCTP), authorities aim to increase value-added tobacco to 25 percent of total output. Analysts say the CRP investment meaningfully expands existing processing capacity and represents a practical step toward achieving that target.
Zimbabwe currently has three major cut rag producers, CRP, Amador and British American Tobacco, and three other cigarette manufacturers, BAT, CRP and Pacific. However, capacity utilisation across the sector has historically been constrained by financing costs, imported inputs and limited export channels for finished products.
Economists caution that while value addition significantly improves export returns, it should be pursued through incremental capacity growth, efficiency gains and market development rather than framed as immediate foregone revenue.
Investments such as CRP’s are increasingly seen as anchoring Zimbabwe’s shift from raw exports toward a more industrialised, higher-value tobacco value chain.