Star Tobacco Eyes Albania

Source from:  Tobacco Asia 09/02/2014

According to Star Tobacco International, the company is planning to revive tobacco production in Albania that has been lacking in the past several years.

The company has ordered a 6-months study of the market and began contacting farmers to evaluate the situation with the tobacco industry.

Iqbal Lambat, executive director of Star Tobacco was quoted by Top Channel as saying that the company's representatives have already visited several farms, mainly in the region of Shkodra to see why the farmers have difficulty selling tobacco. The company is now planning to build a factory in Albania, so that tobacco produced by farmers could be processed locally and meet international standards.

Star Tobacco operates mainly in Asian and European markets, and the company is confident that there is demand for Albanian tobacco in Asia.

Company executives say that Albania should be able to regain past tobacco production levels, which should create thousands of new jobs and generate millions of euros in revenue from exports.

"Historically, Albania has produced about 15,000 tons per year tobacco, which meant that nearly 45,000 local farmers had jobs. Today, production stands at 6,000 tons, but we intend to push it back to 15 or 20 thousand tons and this drive alone will create some 60,000 new jobs, bringing more revenue from exports", said Lambat. Enditem