China: Provincial Tobacco Industry Meets on Operation, Development

Source from:  Shanxi Province 08/06/2004

The Provincial Tobacco Monopoly Administration of north China's Shanxi Province held a meeting on the operation and development of the tobacco industry of Shanxi in the provincial capacity city of Taiyuan on July 27-28, summing up experience in operation and development in the first half of this year. According to the meeting, the provincial tobacco industry was in stable operation and development in the first half of 2004, with cigarette production under proper control, the purchase and sales of tobacco products well balanced, prices remaining stable, inventories declining and the structure of tobacco products improving. From January to June, the tobacco industry of Shanxi generated 1.07 billion yuan (128.9 million U.S. dollars) in manufacturing and commercial taxes and profits, up 73.95 percent over the same period of last year, with the amount of profits alone reaching 637 million yuan (76.7 million U.S. dollars), up 94.66 percent. However, the meeting pointed out that the provincial tobacco industry is still suffering from such problems as irregularity in operation, shortage of efficient supply of goods, unbalanced development among different city-level tobacco companies and high cost of production and sales. Enditem