Japan Tobacco International (JTI) acquired 98.45 percent of Serbia’s biggest raw tobacco manufacturer, Tobacco Industry Senta (Duvanska Industrija Senta), for 27.5 million euros (US$35 million).

JTI, the world’s fourth-largest cigarette producer, has also agreed to invest 2.5 million euros in the Senta tobacco plant and to keep it in operation for at least five years. The Senta plant will purchase tobacco grown on 1,300 hectares of land this year and it expects a 2006 output of some 2,000 tonnes of dried tobacco leaf.
So far, the plant has not engaged in the manufacturing of cigarettes, but it obtained a license for cigarette production last year. The Japanese company plans to reequip the Senta factory in the next 12 months to start cigarette production to both sell on the local market and export cigarettes. The factory, with the present force of 74 workers, will employ another 100 people in the coming months. (pi)