The rising demand by distributors has driven up the prices of cigarettes, the chairman of Tobacco Products Importers and Exporters Association said.
Mohammad Reza Tajdar added that all tobacco companies, except one, have yet to increase their base prices in the new Iranian year [started March 21].
“Given the new tax envisioned in the Budget Law of fiscal 2021-22, which is between 2.5 million rials and 5 million rials [$10-$20] per cigarette carton, the price of each pack of cigarettes will rise by 10,000 rials [four cents],” he was quoted as saying by ILNA.
Noting that workers’ remunerations will increase by 30-40% and that fuel and transportation expenses are bound to go up as well, Tajdar said, “As a result, cigarette prices are likely to increase by 10-30%, depending on their brand as of the Iranian month starting April 21.”
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index of “tobacco” in the 12-month period ending March 20, which marks the end of the 12th month of the fiscal 2020-21, increased by 36.6% compared with the corresponding period of the year before.
Latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran show the CPI of “tobacco”, which has minimum impact on total inflation rate with a coefficient of 0.59% among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households stood at 443.6 for the month under review, indicating a 0.4% month-on-month rise.
The index registered a year-on-year increase of 51.7%.
Cigarette smuggling decreased by 22.1% during the 11 months to Feb. 18, Fars News Agency reported.
A total of 7.46 billion cigarettes were smuggled into the country during the period under review compared with 9.58 billion of the corresponding period of the year before. Cigarette consumption is estimated to have stood at 59.58 billion over 11 months.
There are 23 cigarette companies and 39 tobacco companies in Iran.
The number of cigarette manufacturers in Iran increased from seven companies with an annual output of 29 billion cigarettes in the year ending March 2015 to 23 companies with an annual output of 55 billion in the year ending March 2020.
According to a report by the Persian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad, citing statistics by the Industries Ministry, two leading international manufacturers of cigarettes, namely British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco International, accounted for more than 60% of total cigarette production in Iran during the last fiscal year (ended March 2021).
