Tobacco Import Tariffs Rise

Tariff on tobacco imports has increased from 5% to 15%. 
Criticizing the move to raise tariffs, Chairman of Tobacco Products Importers and Exporters Association Mohammad Reza Tajdar added that the justification presented for raising tariffs includes lending support to tobacco farmers and encouraging tobacco companies to use local products. 
Noting that the country’s tobacco industry uses different types of foreign tobacco, Tajdar said locally-harvested tobacco cannot match all tastes so producers have to import tobacco from various tobacco-growing regions. 
He put the country’s annual cigarette consumption at 72 billion sticks, of which 49 billion are produced by local factories. 
“Imports from legal ports of entry stand at three billion while the rest of the cigarettes smoked by Iranians are supplied by smugglers,” IRNA quoted Tajdar as saying.