Big tobacco producer announces production plans

Azertutun Ltd, part of the Azerbaijan Industrial Corporation (AIC), intends to produce 3,000 tons of tobacco in 2018, AIC Director General Kamran Nabizade told journalists on October 15.

"Azerbaijan plans to produce a total of 6,000 tons of tobacco in 2018, of which 3,000 tons will account for Azertutun. Lands sown under tobacco reached 2,387 hectares this year. Tobacco is stored in the storage point in Balakan region," Nabizade added.

The state aims at the rational usage of the potential of this industry and increase of its competitiveness.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree approving the "State Program for the Development of Tobacco Growing in Azerbaijan for 2017-2021" on August 10, 2017.

According to the order, the State Program is aimed at the development of tobacco growing, deepening the sphere of tobacco processing, increasing profitability and export potential as well as increasing employment of the rural population.

The state program takes into account all the necessary factors for the development of this industry control over the quality of seeds, phytosanitary. This shows that the state aims to create all conditions and provide targeted support for the development of tobacco growing.

Currently, the country eyes to minimize the import of tobacco products. To this end, the manufacturer of tobacco products Tabaterra will build a factory of tobacco products in the Sumgayit Chemical Industrial Park. Taking into account the market demand, the factory, capable of producing 10 billion cigarettes, is able to fully meet the country’s demand for tobacco products.

For the first five months of the year, 1,275 billion cigarettes were produced in the country. In the reporting period, the country produced more cigarettes than during the entire 2017, when 1.241 billion cigarettes were produced.