Senior Leaf Buyer

HAIL & COTTON (Malawi) Ltd

CAREER OPPORTUNITY

SENIOR LEAF BUYER

HAIL & COTTON (Malawi) LIMITED, a fully owned subsidiary of HAIL & COTTON International B.V. based in Netherlands, a company that supplies premium leaf tobacco and value-added services to manufacturers of tobacco products worldwide, is urgently looking for qualified candidates to fill the position of Senior Leaf Buyer.

The main purpose of the position

The Senior Leaf Buyer shall be to manage leaf procurement and sales, green tobacco processing, customer service, and the development of leaf buyers and trainees in accordance with Hail & Cotton procedures, reporting to the Customer Accounts Executive.

Key Responsibilities and Roles

1. Tobacco Procurement

  • Valuation of green
  • Buying green tobacco on both contract and auction markets
  • Allocation of tobacco into relevant customer grades in line with customer allocation policy
  • Liaison with grower’s representatives/associations on emerging issues required for orderly marketing of green.

2. Leaf Procurement Sale Management

  • Continuously checking that the buying team’s performance is in line with daily buying policy.
  • Monitors buying and classification performance of leat buyers, trainee buyers and leaf classifiers to ensure that they are on target in terms of quality and pricing.
  • Continuous monitoring of the TC classification team and AHL selling team to ensure that standards are not compromised
  • Analysis, monitoring, and evaluation of daily market trends in relation to buying policy
  • Controls the quality standards of purchases through inspection of deliveries both on the floors and warehouses.

3 Processing of Green Tobacco

  • Re-classification and allocation of rejected tobacco into appropriate grades.
  • Checks and certifies the suitability of green tobacco products.
  • Monitors and ensures that the quality of the processed product and customer technical specifications are achieved at the time of processing.
  • Recommends to the processing team remedial solutions for processing standards.

4. Customer Service

  • The selection of tobacco for trial packs.
  • Monitors the preparation and availability of buyers’ reference samples and customer master reference sample.
  • Continuous monitoring of green purchase status reports as per customer volume indications
  • Monitors customer packing
    • Checks and evaluates that the customer quality and technical specifications are being achieved.
    • Responsible for adjustments to blends and processing specifications when required.
    • Ensures that the processing program is in line with the shipping schedule.
    • Ensures that the summary of completed operations (S.C.P.O.) is in order and in line with costing/blends.
  • Responsible for the preparation and submission of product reports to customers
    • Market reports
    • Crop Protection Agents (CPA’s) analysis reports
    • Packing reports
    • Shipping reports
    • Crop reports

5. Crop Intelligence and Stakeholder Relationship Management

  • Management and preparation of reports on tobacco growth, volume, and quality.
  • Crop forecast and projections.
  • Gathering of crop intelligence to build on company annual crop throw.
  • Liaison with agronomy and farmers on emerging issues in tobacco value chain; ESG; IPS,ALP
  • Manages the dissemination of information to stakeholders both internal and external on trade requirements relating to production and other emerging issues in the industry.

6. Mentoring and Development of Leaf Buyers and Trainee Buyers

  • Responsible for the training of both Leaf buyers and Trainee buyers.
  • Constant monitoring of Leaf Buyers and trainee buyers’ progress

7. Qualification and Experience

  • Bachelor’s degree in agriculture or related fields.
  • 5 years’ experience performing the above-mentioned Key Performance Areas (KPA) in a large organization.
  • Result Oriented
  • Good Leadership skills
  • Excellent communication skills
  • Computer literate
  • Valid Driving License

Remuneration

An attractive package will be offered to the successful candidates.

Applications with a detailed Curriculum Vitae (CV), copies of certificates, and names and contact details of three traceable and reputable referees should reach the undersigned no later than Friday, 14 February 2025.

The Human Resources Manager
HAIL & COTTON (Malawi) LIMITED
P.O. Box 40214
Kanengo
LILONGWE 4
Email: malawi@hailcotton.com

Please clearly mark on the envelope/email ‘Senior Leaf Buyer’

HAIL & COTTON is an equal opportunity employer; however, only short-listed applicants who meet the above specifications will be contacted regarding interviews.