Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.29/ Trend R.Zamanov
Iran's cigarette production rose by 58 per cent in the third months of the current calendar year, which stared on March 21, the Managing Director of Iranian Tobacco Company Masoum Najafian said on Saturday.
Iran's cigarette output had increased by 66 and 110 per cent respectively, in the first two months of the current calendar year, the Mehr News Agency quoted Najafian as saying.
According to Najafian, 1.243 billion cigarettes were produced in Iran during the first month of current year.
Iran imported 1,355 tons of cigarettes worth some 8.947 million in the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year, which started March 21.
The figures show 47 and 7.63 per cent decrease in terms of value and weight respectively in comparison to the same period of time previous year, the ISNA News Agency reported.
The United Arab Emirates, Turkey, and South Korea were the main exporters of cigarettes to Iran. Ankara and Abu Dhabi alone account for 92 per cent of Tehran's total imports.
Najafian said in March that by launching two new cigarette brands of Marlink and Asia, Iran will start exporting cigarettes to its neighboring countries, , the Mehr News Agency reported.
Domestic companies supply only half of the country's cigarettes consumption, Najafian said, noting that Iranians annually pay 20 trillion rials ($1.63 billion some dollars based on the official rate of USD) for cigarettes.
According to official nearly 63.8 million cigarettes were smoked in Iran last year.
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