Hungary: Tobacco Shop Winners Roll up to Sign

Source from:  The Budapest Times 05/29/2013

A large majority of tobacco retail concession winners signed their contract by Wednesday evening's deadline, according to daily Népszabadság on Thursday. The new state tobacco sales monopoly, which begins on 1 July, sees cigarette sales restricted to licensed kiosks at a rate of one per 2,000 inhabitants. Figures from state tobacco monopoly Nemzeti Dohánykereskedelmi Nonprofit Zrt (NDN) show 5,381 of 5,414 concessions winners have signed their contract, with no information on the remaining 33.

The government is unwilling to set a later deadline for signing, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said last Friday.

It is unclear how many of the concession winners will be ready to start on 1 July, according to business daily Napi Gazdaság.

Nearly 1,500 communities with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants remain without tobacco concessions after failing to raise interest among prospective applicants. NDN announced last week it is reopening bids for those concessions but a bill approved by Parliament late on Tuesday gave the wholesaler responsibility for selling cigarettes there until the new tender is concluded.

The bill also sets a minimum 10 per cent margin on retail tobacco sales, up from the previously proposed three or four per cent but below the 12 per cent said to be favoured by Orbán.
 British American Tobacco local subsidiary BAT Pécsi Dohánygyár announced on Tuesday it is suspending HUF 15 billion (EUR 51.41 million) in investments scheduled for 2013-2014 over changes in Hungarian tobacco retail laws.

The 400 jobs at its Pécs factory will be lost if the fixed price margin approved by Parliament causes a drop in tobacco sales, it said. Enditem