Kazakhstan residents spend $1 billion a year on smoking

According to Director of JTI Kazakhstan tobacco company Luigi Cervezato, residents of Kazakhstan spend $1 billion for sigarettes annually, MK in Kazakhstan writes. As per Cervezato, potential of Kazakhstan's tobacco market is 28.5-29 bullion cigarettes, without “gray import”. However, share of contraband cigarettes does not exceed one percent. According to Director of JTI Kazakhstan, low volume of counterfeit is explained by control on the borders and taxation measures applied by the authorities, which make counterfeiting unprofitable. Cervezato also added that currently the market share of JTI Kazakhstan is around 42.5 percent. Along with its competitor Philip Morris, his company controls almost 90 percent of tobacco market in Kazakhstan. Another 7 percent are covered by British American Tobacco and 3 percent are held by Imperial Tobacco.