Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 25
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
Azerbaijan will not only be able to meet the domestic demand for tobacco, but also to annually export 3,000-4,000 tons of tobacco in the future, Rufat Guliyev, the chairman of the board of the European Tobacco Baku OJSC, the largest tobacco producer in Azerbaijan, told Trend.
He added that this will happen if Azerbaijan increases product quality and brings tobacco prices to the average European level.
“Nearly 1,000 tons of Azerbaijani tobacco may be used for the local market if the quality of tobacco increases,” the head of the European Tobacco Baku OJSC said. “The remaining part can be sent for export. To do this, first of all, it is necessary to increase the experience of tobacco manufacturers.”
“For this purpose, we even send our foreign specialists to different districts of Azerbaijan,” he added.
Azerbaijan also needs to start growing varieties of tobacco used in Europe, and the country has all the necessary climatic conditions for that, Guliyev noted.
Head of European Tobacco Baku OJSC said that the company intends to increase the share of the Azerbaijani tobacco in their cigarettes.
“We already use local tobacco in our own cigarettes, the share of which in the blends is about 50 percent,” Guliyev said. “However, due to the poor quality, tobacco undergoes serious selection. Currently, we plan to increase the share of local tobacco in our blend of cigarettes to 55-60 percent.”
He added that it is the highest possible share, given the fact that the company produces relatively cheap cigarettes.
Some 3,100 tons of tobacco were produced in Azerbaijan in January-September 2016, which is 9.8 percent more than in the same period last year, according to the State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan.