The Iranian Tobacco Company's output hit a two-year high of 900 million cigarettes in the month ending Aug. 21.
The company’s sales over five-month period (March 20-Aug. 21) increased by 52% in number and 54% in value compared with the similar period of last year.
Over the first five months of last Iranian year (March 21-Aug. 22, 2019), ITC produced 2.8 billion cigarettes whereas the company registered the same level of output during the first quarter of the current year (March 20-June 20) despite the outbreak of coronavirus and unexpected lockdown closures, Fars News Agency reported.
One of the main goals set by the company for the current Iranian year (March 2020-21) is to reclaim its lost market by increasing its output and sales by 200%. To this end, it plans to restart one of its abandoned production lines in Tehran after three years.
Two of the company’s production lines in Isfahan’s Khomeyni-Shahr, with a capacity of four million mini-sized cigarettes per day, were already put into operation during the month ending July 21 after a two-year hiatus.
The Iranian Tobacco Company was launched in 1937 as a state-run monopoly to develop the tobacco industry in Iran.
One of the oldest tobacco companies in the Middle East, ITC is engaged in the cultivation of tobacco and production of cigarette, pipe and hookah tobacco. It owns factories in Tehran, Kudestan, West Azarbaijan, Isfahan, Gilan, Mazandaran and Golestan provinces, and produces different brands of cigarettes, including Bahman, Zika, Caspian and Farvardin.
The law confers upon the company complete control over all tobacco-related commercial activities throughout the country, including imports, exports, production and distribution.
For years, ITC was the only customer of tobacco grown by Iranian farmers and always stated that increasing tobacco production is one of the main objectives of the company.
Repeatedly removing and replacing top ITC officials, appointing unqualified executives, developing the tobacco industry against the objections of health officials and lacking scientific and practical plans are among the reasons holding back the progress of tobacco industry in Iran.
