Iran’s tobacco exports hit record high with 10-fold surge since March
Iran’s ministry of industries and trade (MIMT) says exports of tobacco from the country have increased by nearly 10 times in the five-month period beginning late March 2019.
A Thursday report by the IRIB News cited recent MIMT statistics showing that tobacco exports had hit a record high of 799 tons (over 880 American tons) until September, an increase of 955.5 percent compared to the same period in 2018 when Iran exported only 75.5 tons of tobacco to other countries.
Cigarette exports declined 83.3 percent, however, as sales to other countries stood at 25 million cigarettes, or 1.25 million packs of 20, down from 150 million in the five-month period last year.
The report said exports of traditional and flavored tobacco, used in hookah pipes, were also down 53.2 and 78 percent respectively.
Imports for flavored tobacco declined by 65.8 percent with just over a half a ton of shipments arriving in the country, down from more than one and a half tons recorded between March and September 2018.
Like the previous year, the customs offices continued to report zero imports for cigarettes.
The ministry of commerce said a total of 20 factories across Iran were producing cigarettes and 38 others exclusively processed tobacco.
The data comes amid a major shift in the pattern for licensed production and import of foreign brands of cigarettes in Iran, a country of 83 million where 15 to 20 percent of people smoke more than 60 billion cigarettes, or three billion packs of 20, each year.
Declining exports and zero imports for cigarettes reported over the past two years suggest smokers in Iran have lost their old appetite for expensive foreign brands and are instead opting for domestic products that go through stricter health and safety controls.
Iran reports further drop in annual inflation rate in December
D-8’s role in Iran’s economy after Cairo summit
Iran’s mining, metals exports at $8.8bn in Apr-Nov
‘All wars have rules. All of those rules have been broken’ by Israel
VIDEO | Report flags India’s violation of rights of Rohingya detainees
Turkey's foreign minister meets Syria's de facto leader in Damascus
'Next to impossible' to rescue patients from Gaza's Kamal Adwan Hospital: Director
VIDEO | Vietnam current prosperity
Report blames gasoil exports for shortage at Iranian power plants
VIDEO | Hind Rajab Foundation names Israeli war criminals vacationing after Gaza genocide
VIDEO | Australians rally for Gaza ahead of Christmas festivities
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
