Iran in flux

摘要

The Iranian market has partly opened up to international players in the past five years and growth is expected to rise strongly, but development of the sector is beset by extraordinarily high rates of smuggling and governmental regulations. Tobacco consumption is high in Iran. Approximately 9M or 14% of the country's 69M population are smokers. With 70% of the population is under 30 the market could radically expand. However, any statistics on estimated growth or consumption are effectively void in the face of a colossal black market that the government estimates to be as high as 70% of total cigarettes consumed, amounting to over US$1 bn in illegal trade and hundreds of milllions of dollars in lost tax revenue.