Production of Cigarettes Decreased by 86.4%

For two months the volume of production of cigarettes in Azerbaijan amounted to 68.9 million pieces, which is 86.4% less than for the comparable period of 2016, the State Statistics Committee reports.

IA Turan appealed to OJSC European Tobacco-Baku (ETB) for comment on the reasons for the sharp decline in production volumes. However, the company, which accounts for the bulk of local production, refused to talk on this topic.

In 2016, the volume of production of cigarettes in Azerbaijan amounted to 1 billion 652.4 thousand units, of which 65 million pieces (3.9% of production) was exported.

According to the State Customs Committee, for two months of this year cigarettes worth $ 15.8 million were imported, up 9.7% over the same period last year. Unlike the previous time, the SCC did not disclose the report on the number of imported cigarettes. For the entire year of 2016, 9.3 billion cigarettes were delivered from abroad.

The State Statistics Committee estimated that for two months of this year, the retail prices of cigarettes in Azerbaijan decreased by 5.3% compared to January-February 2016.

According to the State Committee for Standardization, Metrology and Patents, cigarettes of Baku Blue, Azeri Blue and Prima brands are produced in ETB.    ----08B