"Japan Tobacco" to invest 5m USD in development of tobacco industry in Serbia

- Company "Japan Tobacco international" (JTI) plans to invest 5m USD in development of tobacco industry in Serbia this year - said Tamer Tecirlioglu, CEO of factory "JTI AD Senta".

Tecirlioglu pointed out at the press conference that he expected that the Government of Serbia would soon pass tobacco premiums. Company JTI announced that it had bought 2,400 tons of tobacco in 2007 and that it was very satisfied with the quality of tobacco in Serbia.

That represents 33% of total tobacco production in Serbia, which amounts to 7.5-8,000 tons. The factory in Senta cooperates with 600 tobacco growers, which produced about 1,900 tons of tobacco of type "virginia" and more than 500 tons of "berley" in 2007. According to the results of the laboratories of JTI in Germany and Austria, the factory in Setna met the highest quality norms in production.

Tecirlioglu said that factory "JTI Senta" had produced 900 million cigarettes since April 2007 when the production had started. The most famous brands are "winston", "monte carlo", "camel", "mor" and others.

Intention of the company is to expand its operations to the countries of western Balkans in 2008.