Azerbaijan, Baku, May.20/ Trend F.Karimov/
Over 30 per cent of cigarettes which are consumed in Iran have been smuggled, IRNA quoted Iranian Tobacco Company managing director Masoum Najafian as saying.
Some 61 billion cigarettes are smoked in Iran annually, he added.
The company increased its output by 110 per cent in the second Iranian calendar month of Ordibehesht (April 20-May 21) compared to the same month last year, he noted.
Earlier this month, IRNA quoted the company's deputy director Ahad Kheiri as saying it will open an outlet in Lebanon in the near future.
Iranian tobacco is welcomed by consumers in the Persian Gulf states and in the Middle East, as well, he noted.
The company plans to set up other outlets in different countries in the future, he added.
Some 46 billion cigarettes are projected to be produced in the country by the end of the current year which began on March 21. Last year, nearly 63.8 billion cigarettes were smoked in Iran.
On October 5, MP Alireza Monadi-Sepidan told the Fars News Agency that imports should be regulated and illegal imports of up to $30 billion which have dented domestic production should be curbed.
According to General Inspection Organisation's director Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the smuggled goods into the country amounted to around $20 billion in the Iranian year which ended in March 2011. The figure declined by $6 billion in the year to March 2012.