Belarusian cabinet issued a decree on raising once again the quota on cigarette import for the current year.

The quota initially set at 1.5 billion pieces and brought to 2 billion last June is now raised to 2.6 billion sticks, reports the industrial news agency Rustabak.ru. The reason for the move is seen in the shortage of cigarette supplies which befell the market after the limit for cigarette import had been cut 2.5 times from the year before. At the same time, the market’s annual need for imported tobacco products is estimated by most experts at over 4 billion cigarettes. (vt)