TEHRAN, Iran, May. 18
Trend:
The privatization of Iran`s Tobacco Company leads to the capitalization of the tobacco market by two foreign companies, The CEO of Iran Tobacco Company said.
The research and investigation of the tobacco industry were approved by the parliament last year, nonetheless, the investigation commission has not been established in the company, Siavash Afzali said, Trend reports citing Fars News Agency.
He went on to say that the Tobacco Company owns only a 5 percent of the tobacco market`s share.
“The duties and taxes tariffs that the tobacco company pays are about 25 percent, while the foreign companies pay 35 percent,” he said.
The CEO of the Tobacco Company stated that previously, foreign companies had obligations to the Iranian tobacco industry, including the promotion of agriculture and the commitment to import technology and machinery into the country but currently such obligations are nonexistent.
"Out of the turnover of $9.5 billion of the tobacco industry, less 5 percent belongs to the tobacco company. A total of 70 percent of the market`s share goes to Japanese companies of JTI and the American company of BAT. The annual consumption of cigarettes in the country is about 75 billion cigarettes, 55 billion of which was produced domestically last year, and 20 billion were supplied through smuggling," Afzali added.
According to statistics, he says that 9 billion cigarettes were produced by the tobacco company last year, while the company's production capacity is 25 to 30 billion cigarettes.
Referring to the 20 percent share of cigarette smuggling in the domestic consumer market, the CEO of Iran Tobacco Company noted that the entry of regulatory, judicial and national media into the issue of cigarette smuggling and special attention to this economic pest in the country is a good opportunity, but the fight against smuggling cannot be solved by policy alone, and there must be the necessary tools to combat cigarette smuggling, including logistics, manpower, and knowledge, which the tobacco company with its experience in the 1980s can help the government with.