According to the Ural regional media, due to high excise tax rates and ever toughening competition on the market, tobacco plant Alvis based in Yekaterinburg has shut down.

The plant’s director Alexander Tumanov says that, with the current excise tax rates, production became unprofitable and was brought to a stop last month. The company is now planning to give its premises for rent. Experts, however, note that taxation was not the only reason for Alvis’ having seen hard times for years. Due to lack of finance, no investments have been made in the plant’s upgrading for the past decade and a half. Alvis was the only cigarette making plant in the Ural region and used to produce papirossy, ovals and base filters. (vt)