Azerbaijan produces 4,500 tons of tobacco
By Rasana Gasimova
Some 4,545 tons of tobacco have been harvested in Azerbaijan as of October 14, 2019, Agriculture Ministry’s press service has said.
“Of these, 3,648 tons of cured tobacco have been delivered to harvesting points,” the ministry noted.
In 2019, the area where tobacco iwas harvested amounted to 3,134 hectares. The Ministry emphasized that currently, tobacco harvesting continues.
Tobacco cultivation has been developing rapidly in Azerbaijan in recent years. In 2018, 6,300 tons of tobacco was harvested in Azerbaijan, of which the volume of fermented tobacco reached 3,500 tons. The total area where tobacco was sown last year amounted to 3,400 hectares.
A tobacco curing station that consists of 60 chambers and meets modern standards was put into operation in Azerbaijan’s Balakan region in 2018.
Presently, Azertutun LLC agro-industrial complex has 236 tobacco curing chambers, warehouses and offices in Balakan, Zagatala, Gakh and Sheki regions, as well as four facilities for the production of dry tobacco with the necessary infrastructure and a tobacco processing plant in Zagatala region.
Thirty modern tobacco curing chambers are planned to be installed in Gakh and Sheki regions to increase the production of tobacco products. Moreover, an additional production line is planned to be installed at Azertutun to increase the range of tobacco products.
The government expects production to be worth $45 million in 2019 and to increase by 20 percent annually until 2022. According to the budget package for 2019, Azerbaijan is expected to produce 8,200 tons of tobacco this year, 9,500 tons in 2020, 12,000 tons in 2021 and 12,600 tons in 2022.
Last year, Azerbaijan exported tobacco worth $10 million, while imports amounted to $116 million. Currently, the country eyes to minimize the import of tobacco products. To this end, the manufacturer of tobacco products Tabaterra CJSC has built a plant for tobacco production in the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park. The total cost of the project is $48 million. Tabaterra intends to cover 80 percent of the demand for tobacco products in Azerbaijan.
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