BAT Uzbekistan registered a 18 per cent production drop in 2005, the National Statistics Committee reports.

 The output of fermented tobacco leaf has also shrunk by 18 per cent. British American Tobacco that has invested nearly US$ 300 million in Uzbekistan, both in cigarette making and leaf growing, has been facing decline in production for the past few years. Despite it being the country’s sole cigarette maker, it is experiencing tough competition with cheap smuggled products, especially in view of high rates of excise taxes imposed on tobacco products. Illegal cigarette imports account, by some estimates, to as much as one third of the market in Uzbekistan, the Central Asian largest country with a population of 26 million people. (vt)