Ban on tobacco imports from the US will affect the cigarette market

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S.-PETERSBURG, April 13 - RIA Novosti. A possible ban on the import of tobacco products from the US will not affect the Russian cigarette market, but may affect the supply of raw materials, which in turn may cause its shortage, Maxim Korolyov, editor-in-chief of the Russian Tobacco Information Agency, told journalists.

The bill, which provides for retaliatory actions against the anti-Russian policy of the United States, was introduced to the Duma by the factions' heads and speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. According to the first vice-speaker of the Duma, Ivan Melnikov, the project on measures of the Russian Federation in response to US sanctions contains a ban on the import of American agricultural, alcoholic and tobacco products.

"If sanctions are imposed precisely against the US, this will not have a significant impact on the Russian tobacco market, we do not have equipment and cigarettes from there," Korolev said. At the same time, restrictions may affect other tobacco products, for example, American cigarillos, he said.

"With a rough ban, problems with raw materials may arise, the largest aggregators of the tobacco leaf, Alliance One and Universal Tobacco, have American roots, but in practice the tobacco grown in the US practically does not reach us: it is very expensive against the background of alternatives from Africa, South America and India, "the expert added.

"But the specified operators of raw materials can formally suffer, and there is a shortage on the market," he concluded.

Link: https://ria.ru/economy/20180413/1518546985.html