Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 2
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran produced 32 billion cigarettes during the first nine months of the current fiscal year (March 20-Dec. 21), Ali Asghar Ramzi, head of Iran’s Center for Tobacco Planning and Supervision, said.
The output of Iran’s cigarette producing companies indicates a 56 percent increase compared to Iran's cigarettes production during the same period of the preceding year, Ramzi said, the Iranian Industry, Mine, and Trade ministry’s SHATA news website reported Jan. 2.
Iran’s cigarette output is expected to reach 45 million by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2017), Ramzi added.
Iran imported 3.7 billion cigarettes in the nine-month period, which is 67 percent less in comparison with March 20-Dec. 21, 2015, the official added.
He also said that about 5.4 billion cigarettes were smuggled into the country during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, which indicates a fall by 45 percent year-on-year.
About 41 billion cigarettes were smoked in the country in the period, Ramzi said.
The high price of Iranian-made cigarettes in comparison to the price of smuggled foreign brands has become a tough challenge for the Iranian Tobacco Company.
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