Cigarette Prices Rise in Azerbaijan due to Expensive Raw Material

Source from:  AzerNews (az)  12/03/2013

Smokers fuming about the rising cost of cigarettes in Azerbaijan should blame higher cost of raw materials on the world markets.

European Tobacco Baku joint-stock company manager Anar Hatamov told  Trend  news agency that the cost of raw materials increased and this is reflected in the retail cigarette price.

Cigarette prices increased by 0.10-0.20 manats per pack in several Baku shops.

The price increase was observed on "Viceroy", "West", "LD", in all types of "Winston" and other popular cigarette brands.

He said the average cost of a pack of cigarettes in Azerbaijan is still less by 10 percent than in the world.

The influence of world tobacco prices for the retail cigarette price is stipulated by the fact that more than half of the products on the Azerbaijani market are imported from abroad. Up to 50 percent of demand for tobacco products is met by domestic production.

The total demand of the Azerbaijani market in tobacco products is estimated at 10 billion cigarettes per year.

Hatamov said increase in retail cigarette prices will restrict their use by young people and minors.

Price increase in retail cigarette prices was earlier viewed as a measure for reducing number of smokers.

MP Musa Guliyev earlier said the issue of increasing the excise tax on tobacco products, which is also one of the steps aimed at reducing the number of smokers, may be discussed at the Parliament.

Unfortunately, the number of smokers in Azerbaijan is also high. According to the WHO representation in the country, Azerbaijan ranks 85th among the smoking countries and is 22nd for the number of cigarettes per capita. Moreover, it is very disappointing that the number of smoking people among the schoolchildren aged 13-14 is increasing year-on-year in the country.

According to researches, 45 percent of men in Azerbaijan smoke. Moreover, the number of women-smokers has increased -- from 3 percent six to seven years ago to the current 10 percent. Enditem