Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 8
Trend:
The main reason for the decline in the cigarette prices is to combat the smuggled tobacco products on the Azerbaijani market, Ali Verdiyev, corporate affairs and communications manager at Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Azerbaijan, told Trend Feb. 8.
He said that after the prices increased, the tobacco products being imported into the country illegally appeared on the Azerbaijani market.
"These products cost less," he said. "Therefore, despite their poor quality, people sought to buy them. Therefore, we decided to reduce the cigarette prices to prevent the spread of smuggled products."
He said that this decision was also taken given a decrease in the purchasing power of the population.