Japan Tobacco Has EUR 25 Million to Invest in Romania

Source from:  The Diplomat Bucharest 07/19/2012

Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Inc. Asia's largest cigarette maker by market value, said today it invested EUR 25 million euros for expansion of the Romanian based plant, following the company's local investment plans for 2011, Bloomberg news states. According to the site, Japan Tobacco invested more than 100 million euros in Romania since it entered the market in 1993 and its Bucharest- based plant exports 65 percent of its cigarette production, Mutsuo Iwai, the company's executive vice-president, said in the statement. "Thanks to the authorities' efforts, legislative changes and cooperation between the state and the tobacco industry, contraband decreased from over 36 percent of the total market in January 2010 to around 13 percent in May 2012," Neil Coupland, the Romanian unit's general manager, said in the statement, quoted by Bloomberg, as he continued: "as a consequence, legal sales are growing, allowing us to further invest in our factory and new jobs." Enditem