British American Tobacco (BAT) intends to invest US$ 150 million in its cigarette plants in Russia

According to the BAT director responsible for the area, most of this sum will be directed to the modernisation of the Java and Saratov factories. The works in Saratov, where the company will spend a total of US$ 46 million, are almost completed. In Java, US$ 60 million of the planned US$ 100 million have already been spent. Production at the Java plant reached 11 billion cigarettes and the output of the Saratov plant stood at 5.3 bn cigarettes in 1996. The production capacity in Java could go up to 30 billion cigarettes per year.