As of 20 September 2006, Imperial Tobacco Group launched manufacturing of its international brand West in Minsk, at the facilities of Belarusia's second largest cigarette maker Tabak Invest, reports Rustabak.

West has been imported to Belarus for a number of years and has gained popularity with local smokers. According to Imperial’s representative office for Russia and Belarus, West accounts for as much as ten per cent of the overall volume of foreign cigarettes consumed in the country. It is anticipated that Tabak Invest’s output of West will stand at 500 million sticks per year at the beginning. As in the case with BAT that is making some of its brands in Grodno, Imperial is going to supply raw materials for the contract manufacturing and provide the necessary quality control. Imperial Tobacco is not the first company to place production with Tabak Invest. The company is already making JTI’s brands Winston, Magna and Monte Carlo under license. (vt)