Moldova’s only cigarette making plant, Chisinau-based Tutun-CTC, can soon be granted an exclusive license for cigarette import, the Moldovan ministry of agriculture says.

This will help the company to consolidate its presence on the market, as its main production is earmarked for the domestic consumption primarily. The plant has an annul capacity of 7 plus billion sticks, but made 6.5 billion cigarettes over the year 2005. According to the ministry, Tutun-CTC is capable of supplying the local market almost entirely, but still has to face tough competition of imported cigarettes of which 2.5 billion sticks were legally imported into the country last year. Tutun-CTC has around 30 brands in its present portfolio, with the emphasis made on ovals and cheaper filters. Efforts to revive Moldovan leaf and cigarette manufacturing have been made by the government for the last few years, but, according to experts, some of them are still far from being market-wise, the long-announced plant’s privatisation never accomplished to date. (vt)